


Question and Answer

by keysburg



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Case Fic, Developing Relationship, F/M, Interrogation, Past Relationship(s), Relationship Negotiation, Training Camp, Vintage Spycraft, a chief's job is never done, makeouts don't solve everything kids, much shippier than the summary suggests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-11-23 20:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 35,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11409321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keysburg/pseuds/keysburg
Summary: Returning to reality after their Hollywood Ending, Daniel and Peggy have their hands full with Hugh Jones and the M. Carter file.  If that wasn’t enough to hinder a fledgling romance, there’s still an office to lead--and a mole inside it.  At a specialized training camp, Daniel searches for the traitor.  Meanwhile, he learns more than he expected about all his agents, including Peggy.





	1. Chapter 1

**October 1947**

He’s leading a team into a building on a hot search when the nagging feeling begins. Daniel’s been here before, and something is definitely not right. His men are behind him as he takes point, so he continues forward anyway. When he comes to a corner he leapfrogs around it with Agent Valdez, or maybe it’s Jack.

The crack of the shot comes from behind. He’s hit, and it’s just like that day in Belgium. There’s the sense of being pushed off balance and the long inhale of dread before the pain starts. It takes a minute to get there, but he knows it’s coming. 

This time, it’s in his back. Daniel crumples to the ground as footsteps come up behind him. One of his own men is coming to finish him off.

It was not the first time he’d woken with a jerk, skin clammy with sweat. It wasn’t even the tenth. He rolled onto his side and almost jerked again when he felt Peggy press up against him. He’d forgotten she was there. She was never in the dream, but more and more often she was there when he woke. Her touch grounded him to reality--her hand slid over his chest--pushing away the terrible unreality of the nightmare. Her soft breasts pressed against his back, where the dream bullet had hit. Then her lips moved against his bare shoulder.

“Same one?” she murmured. 

He slid his hand to cover hers, against his chest. Her fingers splayed and his slid between them. “Same one,” he said, and there’s too much self-pity in his voice for his liking. “I’m sorry I woke you. Paranoia’s not a good look on anyone, but it must be particularly tiresome at two A.M.”

Peggy’s teeth sunk into his shoulder. He hissed at the sting, even as it sparked an answering thrum somewhere deep inside him. “It’s not just paranoia,” she said. “It can’t be coincidence we’ve been unable to catch up to Hugh Jones. Let’s not forget he vowed revenge on me, either.”

“No coincidence in the spy game,” he agreed. Their inability to question the man was partially bad luck and partially some thing else. Rufus Hunt had fingered Jones as a member of the Council of Nine. He was the only one identified that survived the machinations of Whitney Frost. She had killed Hunt, and they’d been unable to arrest Jones. The man kept slipping away. His lawyers convinced judge after judge that the SSR didn’t have enough evidence for a warrant without a living, breathing and testifying Hunt. Finding Jones in the company of Dottie Underwood wasn’t enough reason to arrest him. It was a sign that he was still up to no good. They needed to question him. 

They’d have to find him first. Every effort made to track his movements in and out of L.A. had led to frustration; every plan to catch up with him ultimately failed. The Council of (much fewer than) Nine still had considerable sway with the police department. They ignored the APBs on Jones. They still should have been able to catch up with one rich businessman alone, but every time they went to move, his plans suddenly changed. It could only mean one thing.

There was still a mole inside SSR Los Angeles.

Peggy’s first instinct had been to make the operation need-to-know, with only trusted agents working on it. She wanted Jones, and her utter focus on the objective made her a great agent. He was still learning, but as Chief he had to think more strategically. Daniel convinced her that finding the mole was more important in the short term. Making the Jones operation need-to-know would tip their hand, and so they pretended they hadn’t noticed.

That was when the nightmares had started. Daniel had interviewed, assessed and selected every person in his branch, and there was still a traitor among them. Worse, the options for finding them in this situation were very limited. Vega and Blackwell had given up everyone they knew about. Vernon Masters himself was still dead or missing. That man was devious enough to have subverted half the office individually--even Jack followed his lead for a time. Thompson wanted to believe Masters had handled him with extra care. Afraid Jack would balk if he knew the depths of the conspiracy, Vernon had kept Vega and Blackwell’s allegiance a secret. It was possible that was why, but a smart spy would divide his assets into as many cells as possible. Vernon was as intelligent and ruthless as they came. 

They had no leads to follow back to the mole. They were left with two options: find the leverage or work up a disinformation campaign.

Disinformation would probably be quicker and perhaps more effective. It would be easy to provide false bits of intel to different agents, and wait and see which Hugh Jones ended up acting upon. The leaking of deliberately false information would point to the traitor, but there were some risks to this approach. The agents might compare notes and realize they didn’t have the same information, tipping off the mole. There was another reason Daniel didn’t want to go that way, though.

He didn’t like lying to his men. In this situation, the ends didn’t justify the means. It would likely rout the traitor, but in the end everyone in the office would know what he had done. The fall-out of discovering a mole was bad enough for morale and trust within a spy organization. It would be that much worse for the innocent agents he lied to. They’d know they’d been suspects. That would make them feel untrustworthy, which could give them an excuse to be that way. Trust was reciprocal. Deceiving them, even for a good reason, would weaken those bonds. 

It also seemed unfair. After all, he had vetted these men himself. He had reviewed them for obvious weaknesses, personal situations or attitudes that would make them easy to turn or manipulate. Daniel had missed something. It didn’t matter that Masters had likely hidden things from him. It would have been easy for Vernon in his position in the Department of War to alter or redact files on potential SSR hires, maneuver people his way. He had certainly done that with Vega, altering the family section of that man’s file. Vega had confessed that his parents had immigrated illegally from Mexico. Vernon provided them with false citizenship papers and altered Vega’s file birth certificate to give him more American bonafides. Daniel couldn’t even blame Vega for the choices he made. For his family, he might have done the same. 

Daniel had still looked that man in the eye and not noticed he was hiding something. They had worked together for months, eaten pie together, relied on each other in life-or-death situations, and he never noticed something was amiss. The good men in his office shouldn’t be lied to and manipulated because he failed at screening out the security risks.

There would be a trail somewhere, even if he had failed to see it before. Find the leverage motivating the traitor, and he’d find the mole. This approach wasn’t without risks either; the SSR remained compromised while he took a look at all his agents. Daniel didn’t think any of the other ongoing investigations would interest Hugh Jones, but there was no way to tell for sure. Information was always valuable to someone, after all. 

That meant for this approach to work, he needed a controlled environment and time to focus on what he was doing. Then an opportunity presented itself. It would be tricky, but he could make it work. It wasn’t all up to him this time. 

That thought brought him back. Peggy’s breath at his back had slipped back into the soft rhythm of sleep while his thoughts swirled. Daniel took a deep breath and let his mind focus on the sensation of lying there with her. The cool sheets on his skin, the weight of her body in bed next to his, and her soft breathing encouraged his body to relax. He was going to need his sleep--it was going to be a busy week.


	2. Chapter 2

Three cars pulled into the Camp Elliott parking lot at roughly the same time. Peggy popped out of her seat, but Daniel took his time getting out of the car, watching his people.

Valdez drove down to the Navy base in San Diego with Samberly and their new cover agent, Magnolia Langdon. Mags had come highly recommended by Rose, the pair having served in the WAVES together. The petite blonde wasn’t very physically intimidating, but she had a service record better than half his men. She had come along after the whole Isodyne mess and was assigned to the Jones case. She wasn’t the mole, but it would have looked suspicious to leave the new recruit out of this training session. 

Valdez looked as placid as ever, despite the long drive with Samberly in the car. Roberto Valdez was a southern California native and a little bit older than most of the other agents. Before the war, he had been a staff manager on one of the orange plantations and leveraged his service to get himself out of the groves. He didn’t socialize with the other agents much. He saved his wages and went to his family rather than going for drinks after work. It made sense, since he had three kids and another one on the way. Valdez was always a calm, steady presence at work. He had also been friends with Vega and, like him, had extended family who still lived in Mexico. Sousa hated to suspect the man but if it worked once, it might work again. He’d had limited opportunities to investigate Valdez anyway. Asking him in on this training was Daniel’s best chance to get a better read on the man. 

Samberly climbed out of the back seat of their sedan, gasping for air like he was trying not to vomit, dramatic as always. Daniel hadn’t read him in on the real mission. Samberly badly needed this type of training if he wanted to get out of the lab more often.

The remaining staff had exited the third car and were teasing Samberly about his evident motion sickness. Only three people beside Valdez could have leaked the information to Jones. Andy Min, Oliver Engle and Connor O’Keefe had ridden down together rather than share a car with him or Samberly.

Peggy exchanged pleasantries with Mags and Valdez while Daniel watched Engle and O’Keefe continue to needle Samberly. Min stood nearby, not teasing Samberly but laughing at the other’s jokes. Uniformed officers exiting the squat gatehouse distracted Daniel from his men. The senior officer carried himself with the upright posture of a career military man. The Commander with him looked far younger than he should, probably due to his round face. He carried two large, ornate and brightly colored flower vases, incongruent with the surroundings. Daniel turned his body to face the approaching men, watching those around him. Peggy, Mags and Valdez clued in next, lining up next to him and facing in the same direction.

Min got it a moment later, sidling away from the group and into the line. Surprisingly Samberly was the next to get it, eyes focusing on the incoming as he straightened up. O’Keefe was the last to clue in, Engle giving him an elbow before he stopped his teasing. By that time, the Elliott personnel were already standing in front of them, waiting for their attention. 

“Welcome, SSR Los Angeles. I am Captain Dowden and I am the Assistant Director of Training here at Camp Elliott. I understand we have mixed-sex teams for this training session?”

“We do,” Sousa said. “I will captain Team Lobo with Agents Langdon, Engle and Samberly. Agent Carter here will captain Team Toro with Agents O’Keefe, Min and Valdez.” His staff rearranged themselves around him as he gave the assignments. O’Keefe looked a little put out. He’d not taken well in the past to Peggy’s leadership in the field.

“Thank you, Chief Sousa. You know, most COs who come into this training prefer to give the captain duties to a staff member to give themselves a break. Are you arrogant or just controlling?” Dowden’s eyes glinted in amusement. 

Daniel knew when someone was just trying to get a rise out of him. “Neither. Except for Engle, my team are the newer field agents and I hope to learn more about how to lead them best.” 

“That’s a good attitude to have, Chief. You are all here to learn and improve, not show off. The training you’ll be doing this week requires teamwork and adaptation to be successful. Despite the competition between your teams, you will be bunking with all members of the same sex. Since you’re here for advanced counterintelligence and field operations training, this is another chance for you to practice discretion in your off hours. 

“Your first team challenge begins now. Recruit Division Commander Delaney has a vase and a base map for each team. Each team will get a five minute planning session to review the map and decide where on base to conceal their vase, and twenty minutes to place it. Buildings covered with hatch marks on the map are out-of-bounds for this training. After concealing your vase, teams can report to their barracks, also marked on the map. Your belongings will be delivered for you. After settling in, team captains should meet in my office. 

“Your hiding location has to be somewhere secure where the vase is not in danger of being broken. If you find the other team’s vase at any point in the week, your team will be awarded 100 extra points and they will have to hide it again. If you break a vase or your vase is broken while hidden, 500 points will be deducted from your team’s score. Any questions?”

“If it gets broken, do we get another one?” Engle asked. 

“No. Team Lobo, you’re up. Proceed to the other side of the gatehouse with Recruit Division Instructor Delaney. Your five minute planning session starts when he hands your captain a map. Team Toro, please turn and face in the opposite direction.”

They checked themselves through the gatehouse and huddled around the map.

“The mess,” Engle said. “Hide it in plain sight with the other dishes.”

“Oh, brilliant,” Samberly rolled his eyes. “The one place we know the other team will be going two or three times a day. And nothing ever gets broken in a mess hall. What about the armory? Secure and probably lots of boxes to hide it in.”

“Out-of-bounds according to the map,” Daniel said. “I’d say keep it with us the barracks, but we’re bunking with the enemy. Maybe concealed nearby?”

“If we put it close to our quarters, everyone will be tempted to check on it,” Mags said. “What we need is a confederate.”

They went to the building that housed the staff offices and Mags had a word with the secretary seated at the front desk, a big old battle axe of a woman. She took the blue vase from Mags and tucked it into a corner of a box marked “Lost and Found”, wrapped in a ratty looking sweater to cushion it. 

“I don’t know about this,” Samberly complained as they headed for the barracks. “She could be subverted. We’ve just created our own security risk.”

“A couple thousand people work on this base,” Mags said. “Do you think the other team will think to ask Mrs. Preston for our vase? If they think to ask anyone?”

“I doubt it. Good idea, Mags,” Daniel said. “They’ll probably give us points for using our resources wisely and working with others, even if it doesn’t work. Captain Dowden is going to explain the scoring more thoroughly later. Here’s the ladies’ barracks.”

“See you at dinner,” Mags waved, headed into the building. Daniel kept walking, leading Engle and Samberly past the mess hall to their barracks on the other side. He wasn’t certain Samberly caught his emphasis on working with others. While the Captain had already warned them about showing off, Daniel wasn’t sure that would make it sink in. 

The barracks they were staying in was outfitted to house a 32-man platoon. Sixteen bunk beds filled the main room, arranged in rows against the walls. It would be strange staying here with only five others. A couple of privates waited inside with their luggage from the cars. After a moment’s consideration, Daniel asked one of them to place his trunk at the foot of the bunk closest to the bathroom. They departed when he was settled. Samberly took the bottom bunk across the center aisle, and Engle the top, leaving a few bunks between himself and Samberly.

They made their beds with linens left for their use and Daniel ducked into the bathroom, stashing his Dopp kit next to one of the sinks. Unpacking wasn’t a luxury that soldiers were afforded. Usually all a man’s gear stayed in his foot locker. It felt wrong somehow to treat the barracks like a very sparse hotel room, but he wasn’t in the army anymore. The sight of a chair in the middle of the row of showers was also jarring, but Dowden had been more than willing to provide him accommodations. He had also focused this week’s curriculum specifically to address the SSR’s typical operations.

Voices floated back to him as he turned to head back in the main room, and he paused for a moment to listen. O’Keefe and Min were chatting as they entered the barracks If Valdez was with them he was keeping his own counsel, as usual. 

“Damn, but that Carter is a bossy one,” O’Keefe was complaining.

“She is our group’s captain,” Min pointed out. Daniel heard the sound of luggage being rearranged. 

“Yeah, she got Chief to name her the captain, but that doesn’t mean dictator. It’s not really teamwork if she doesn’t listen to anything we have to say.” Daniel bristled at the tone and the man’s reflexive criticism of Peggy, even if he had a point. He had contemplated making the steady Valdez the leader of Team Toro so they’d be more evenly matched. Ultimately, he had been unable to resist the temptation of pitting Peggy’s approach against his own. After all, one of the goals was to learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

“You’re just sore she didn’t like your idea,” Min said. “Hush it already though. We’re probably giving things away. Chief knows how his girl thinks.” 

“It’s a stupid game anyway,” O’Keefe groused. “I thought we were here to learn urban tactics, not play capture-the-flag.”

“Intelligence gathering is always capture-the-flag,” Valdez pointed out as Daniel started moving again. “Just because you don’t understand the value doesn’t mean you should undermine it for the rest of the team.”

The men fell to their tasks as Daniel entered the main room again. Samberly was sitting on his bunk, fidgeting. Engle was stretched out and staring at the ceiling. O’Keefe made up the top bunk next to him while Min worked on the one underneath. Valdez already had his bed made, the only one to choose a bunk on Daniel’s side of the room, although he left one between them to provide them both some space. Interesting. Daniel hadn’t missed how O’Keefe and Engle hung together at the office, which was why he put them on different teams. 

“Samberly,” Daniel said. “Why don’t you make a list of places Agent Carter specifically would be likely to hide a vase? I’m due in the Captain’s office--I’ll see you all in the mess in twenty for dinner.” Giving the man a task to focus on would keep him busy and help distract him from any interrogation by the others while he was gone. Engle could probably stand up to the other three by himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Peggy was already in Dowden’s office when Daniel got there, making polite small talk. Dowden was a plain looking man already in late middle age, his hair entirely grey. He wore his years lightly as he laughed in response to one of Peggy’s comments. 

“Welcome Chief Sousa,” Dowden interrupted himself when Daniel entered his office and closed the door behind him. “Do you have everything in your barracks that you need?” Daniel nodded in affirmation, taking a seat next to Peggy across from where Dowden sat at his desk.

“Captain Dowden was just telling me how they’re between classes right now,” Peggy said. “We more or less have the run of the place, except for the trainers and support staff.” With the war over, Camp Elliot had been recently transferred from the Marines to the Navy. It was still primarily a training facility. During the off weeks they made the facilities available to other branches of government.

“Had some of those prissy CIA boys in here last week,” Dowden said, shaking his head. “All fresh out of college and green as can be. I understand your group is somewhat more experienced.”

“All of us have some service under our belts. Min, Valdez and Langdon in the Pacific theater; the rest of us in Europe at one point or another,” Daniel answered. “Dr. Samberly is the exception, he was mostly working stateside.”

“Yes, I see you ranked him as your least experienced. Which is unusual considering you have two women in your group, but I see from the files that Agent Langdon was stationed with the WAVES in Hawaii. Agent Carter, it looks like they had you all over the damn place, and that’s not even taking into account what is apparently still redacted. I’m assuming you saw combat.” Peggy nodded, and the Captain continued. “Anything else I should know?”

“Knock O’Keefe around if you get a chance,” Peggy suggested. “He cheats.” 

Dowden raised an eyebrow and looked at Daniel.

“At poker, anyway. Anything he can do to get out of paperwork, he’ll try it.” Daniel said. “He’s pulled a prank or two at the office. Every squad seems to have their yo-yo. He’s ours.”

“We’ll keep an eye on him.” Dowden leaned back in his chair. 

“That wanker is going to tank my team’s score. I just know it,” Peggy muttered. 

Daniel couldn’t fight the smirk off his face. “You’ll just have to focus on getting all the teamwork points, Peggy.” Dowden didn’t miss the look between them. 

“Why did you name Agent Carter as the other team’s captain, Chief Sousa?” he asked.

“Agent Carter and I work very well together, or at least I think so, but that’s not to say improvements can’t be made.” Hell, it was hard to say this diplomatically. Might as well just let her have it; she’d responded to it well before. It’s not like he had to worry about Dowden’s opinion about their relationship. He let his tone turn teasing. “She always thinks she’s the best agent for the job. She’s often right, because she is a brilliant agent, but she can’t do everything herself.” 

“You’re one to talk,” Peggy’s voice was light, although he could hear the steel underneath. “Our last major mission, it was you charging into danger.”

“She takes too much on herself,” Daniel continued. “Tries to solve every problem with only her skill set, so she’s the only one under fire. Leading a team requires using each person’s skills for their best strategic purpose.”

“And was what you were doing on the movie set, leading? Or is that the pot speaking?”

Daniel didn’t miss the ice in Peggy’s tone, but this had been coming sooner or later. They had never quite finished their discussion on the Zero Matter case, what with all the kissing and other things that had come along. Jack’s shooting had unified the team, pushing them past minor concerns. This wasn’t an ideal place to finish that conversation but he couldn’t stop himself. 

“Considering the team we had, both you and Thompson had better evidence of our subject’s crimes. I considered both of you essential to the eventual prosecution of the suspect. The others involved were mostly civilians. As technical staff, they also needed to be working on a better remedy to the situation. Meanwhile, someone had to act. So as the least valuable team member present, yes, my actions were strategic.”

“You want her to walk a mile in your shoes,” Dowden said. “Understandable. I assume you’re willing, Agent Carter, since you’re here?”

“Yes, of course,” she answered, a bit primly. “Nothing wrong with an honest test of skills. May the best captain win.”

* * *

Daniel and Peggy made it to the mess hall about ten minutes after dinner had started. Surprisingly, none of the other SSR people were there yet. The place wasn’t exactly empty, the base support staff still needing to eat, but it wasn’t crowded either. They sat down with their trays across from each other. 

Daniel settled in and looked up to find Peggy looking around somewhat bemused. “I thought my days of eating mystery meat were long over,” he offered, poking at his main course. 

“I was just thinking how this seemed much more like home than Stark’s,” Peggy said. 

“You haven’t been there very much lately,” Daniel said, smiling. “Hopefully my place is a little more cozy.” 

“Your couch is hideous, but it is comfortable,” she replied teasingly. “Much more comfortable than bunk beds and bench seats.” 

“I’m glad you said that,” he said. “I’ve been thinking. It could be your couch too, if you wanted. Stark may have a fleet of cars you can borrow, but his place is a bit of a drive from the office.”

“You want me to move in? And you’re asking me now?” Peggy seemed more surprised than he expected. 

“Mmm. We always get so _distracted_ at night. And I could hardly ask you at the office.” The entire office knew they were dating, but they tried to keep to business while at work. Neither of them wanted to give anyone ammunition for teasing. “I know we have a lot going on here, but we always do. I might never get to ask if I wait for things to calm down. What’s your hesitation?”

“It’s only been three months,” she said weakly. “Doesn’t it seem a bit soon?” 

“We worked together for over a year before that,” he pointed out. “I already know you leave your dirty clothes everywhere, hate my mussels linguine and that I shouldn’t speak to you until after you’ve had your morning cup of tea. What else is there?”

Her reply was lost as the others finally entered the mess hall. O’Keefe and Min were arguing and annoyed about something. Samberly came in after them, carrying Team Toro’s green vase very carefully. Mags and Valdez followed behind him. Samberly caught his eye where Daniel sat at the table and came over to set the thing next to Peggy. 

“Here you are, Captain Carter. Captain Dowden has already logged our points and recommends your team attempt to re-conceal it after dinner.” 

“Samberly, how did you find it?” Daniel asked, impressed in spite of himself. 

“It was easy, Chief. I got out the map and I tried to think like Carter. I looked for the most remote part of the base that wasn’t off limits and where we’ll be unlikely to visit during training. That’s the row of file barracks on the north end and only a few of them are marked off limits. Those would have taken a very long time to search, because the vase could fit in a file box easily. Then I noticed that almost as remote was a little backup radio shed. The main radio room is off limits, of course, but there’s a few of these around the base for redundancy. They’re probably used once a month for testing and that’s it. I asked Mags to pick the lock, and there it was, tucked under the generator!”

“Nice way to score some teamwork points while you were at it. Now go get some dinner before they close up.”

Peggy was pouting. “How did Samberly know I decided where to hide the vase?” she asked.

“O’Keefe’s big mouth. Try not to beat him up over it, I think Min will take care of it for you.”

“I suppose it was a bit obvious. Your team probably had the same thought, with hiding it as far out of the way as possible. Shall I check the other radio cabinets?”

“Oh, no, you won’t get anything out of me,” Daniel laughed at her prodding. “Sorry, Peggy.” The others joined them at their table, and Daniel had to admit the camaraderie did feel like coming home. O’Keefe and Min were harassing Engle for clues, and he good naturedly sidestepped their inquiries. Valdez studied the base map quietly as he ate, either looking for a new hiding place or just interested in the layout. Mags explained to Samberly which lock picks she had used and why. 

Everyone was scraping up the last of their pudding when Captain Dowden appeared. He explained the scoring.

“As already stated, locating the other team’s vase is worth 100 bonus points. For the other tasks, each has different maximum number of possible points based on difficulty, but the scoring for each is the same. The successful achievement of the exercise objective is twenty percent. The strategic application of the team’s various skills is also worth twenty percent. The effectiveness of the captain in leading the team is worth ten percent, and the demonstration of teamwork and the ability to work under pressure is worth fifty percent.”

“That’s not very realistic,” O’Keefe said. “In the real world, only catching the bad guy matters.”

“It’s not completely realistic, maybe,” Dowden said easily. “We’ve set it up so a team could win without actually completing any of the tasks, as long as they work together. This isn’t the real world, and I don’t have to tell any of you that completing your objectives out there is often a matter of life and death. However, it’s not the only thing that matters. By focusing on teamwork and using each member’s skills to their best purpose, we hope to make you more effective at catching those bad guys.

“Our schedule provides an hour of free time after dinner each day. Some days we will be having night exercises, so tonight I recommend you get to bed early. We expect you to be up at reveille and joining the enlisted men for their morning run. If you wish to strategize with your team at any point without being overheard, the Officer’s Club is open to you. You may use any of the private lounges within.”

There were general groans of displeasure at the news of morning exercise. Peggy asked her team to meet at the Officer’s Club.

“I’m going to hang out in the barracks. We’ll talk some more later?” Daniel asked. He’d expected her to jump at the suggestion to move in together. There must be something that was making her think twice. 

“Err--okay.” She hesitated, as if she was going to add something. She looked a bit uneasy and Daniel wanted to reassure her, preferably with his lips. He couldn’t remember the last time they hadn’t snuck a kiss when they parted for the evening--if they parted for the evening. He took a deep breath. This was enjoyable too, in more than one way.

“Go on, get that vase hidden,” he said, smirking. “I’ll bet you a buck we still find it again before you find ours.”

“You’re on, Captain Sousa. Mags is a smart girl but she’s pretty new--and I have all night to interrogate her. We’ll see if your new recruit is up to the challenge.” Her shoulders were set as she headed off to meet her men.

He wouldn’t necessarily like to be in Mags’ position, but he was pretty sure she’d see Peggy coming a mile away.

* * *

The barracks were dark and quiet when he returned. He took advantage of the quiet to read a few pages of the novel he brought with him. He got through more than he’d expected before O’Keefe returned, Samberly close on his heels. 

“See? I’m in for the night. You can stop following me now, you giant gink.” O’Keefe grabbed up some things before stomping towards the showers. Daniel raised an eyebrow at Samberly.

“Mags suggested we haunt the Officer’s Club and follow the other team when they left. Then they all split up and we had to as well. I drew the short straw, and Mr. Personality didn’t even have the vase.” Min had come in, smiling broadly, while Samberly was explaining. Daniel took that to mean their vase was hidden again, and successfully. 

“Connor will calm down, Dr. Samberly. He’s just mad he had to play decoy. He doesn’t like admitting he’s almost as bad at sneaking around as you are.” Min’s voice sounded like he was repressing a laugh. 

“I bet it makes him feel better that you used his suggestion when hiding the vase this time,” Samberly said as casually as he could. 

“Probably--oh, hell.” Min said. “Dammit!” Samberly gave Daniel a significant look. He nodded his approval, and then shrugged. O’Keefe would probably want to hide the vase somewhere that would make it extremely awkward to retrieve, but he didn’t know where that might be. Fortunately, even the field latrines were off-limits for the game.

Valdez wandered in later still, as they were all getting changed. It was a welcome distraction from the looks O’Keefe and Min were sneaking at his prosthetic. Daniel knew if he acted normal, everyone else would too, but it didn’t make the falling silence any less obvious as he doffed his leg.

“How’s the family, Roberto?” 

“They are very well. I actually think my wife prefers it when I’m away. She claims it makes it easier to get the kids to bed.” Valdez sat on his bunk and started digging through his luggage.

“When’s the baby due?” 

“Eight more weeks, so we’re on the home stretch. I think that’s the real reason she doesn’t mind if I’m gone at night. She gets all the pillows and doesn’t have to worry if her constant shifting around is keeping me up.”

“My sister is due pretty close to then, although it’s her first child. If you want to work more nights, just let me know. Did you see Engle on your way back?” 

Valdez nodded. “He was still at the payphones when I left. Apparently his sister is sick and he was on hold, waiting for a doctor to come give him an update.” 

Daniel had to think about it for a minute, but eventually he remembered that Engle’s younger sister was named Alice. His parents had just moved her to Arizona, the air supposedly better for her lungs. He made a mental note to find out more details and have Rose get a collection going on, if she didn’t have one already.

Engle came in before long and got ready for bed quickly, his face drawn. The news must not have been good. At last they were all settled, lights out. 

He hadn’t missed trying to fall asleep in a room with lots of other men. The little noises kept him from relaxing. He lay there listening to bodies shifting, springs creaking and the occasional steps outside of nighttime patrol until everyone else’s breath had slowed, shifting into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The CIA was created in September 1947. More on this later.
> 
> I researched training protocols of the time period. If you're interested on further reading of this topic (its full of plot bunnies) consider
> 
> [OSS Training during WWII](https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-54-no.-2/pdfs-vol.-54-no.-2/Chambers-OSS%20Training%20in%20WWII-with%20notes-web-19Jun.pdf)
> 
>  
> 
> [How to Be a Spy: WWII SOE Training Manual](https://ironwolf008.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden.pdf)
> 
>  
> 
> but I also invented a lot of stuff, including the scoring. The game is made up and the points don't matter.


	4. Chapter 4

Reveille came far too early. There was plenty of grumbling but not much dawdling as the men got ready. They headed out to meet the Recruit Division instructor in charge of morning exercise. Being unable to run, Daniel didn’t go with them. It didn’t get him out of much; he reported to the pool instead. Recruit Division Commander Delaney was waiting for him and indicated he should warm up. 

Deep in the fall, the nights in California were starting to get chilly, and the pool had lost much of its heat overnight. It still wasn’t as cold as the first swim of summer at home. After warm ups, Delaney produced a weight belt intended to make him nearly buoyancy neutral. Swimming weighted was hard. It required more effort and focusing on the rhythm of his strokes with his breath. The demands on his attention were such that he almost didn’t notice when the others went striding around the pool. He caught a glimpse of Peggy and Mags at the back, Peggy encouraging or perhaps harassing the stragglers. The SSR was lucky they only had to keep up with the enlisted men staffing the base. If there had been other training classes in session, they would have faced a more challenging workout. 

Only going to the pool meant he got the barracks bathroom to himself. He was dressed and headed for breakfast as the others stumbled in. Samberly seemed to enjoy giving Engle a hard time for falling behind.

“I have short legs,” Engle complained. “We can’t all be long-legged storks like you!” 

“I didn’t have any problems,” Min said. He and Engle were definitely the shortest out of the group, three or four inches shorter than Daniel. 

“Yeah, but your legs are basically springs!” O’Keefe shouted as he ducked into the showers.

The women were already at breakfast when Daniel got there. Mags was sitting in a corner by herself, scowling at anyone who approached. He got a tray of rehydrated eggs and slightly burnt sausage and sat down across from Peggy. He nodded towards Mags and raised an eyebrow.

“It turns out Mags is even less of a morning person than I am,” Peggy said.

“Oh. Is that a problem?”

“Quite the opposite. We helped each other with our hair and made a mutual pact not to speak before coffee unless absolutely necessary.” She shifted in her seat a bit before continuing. “Daniel--about what you asked me. It sounds lovely, but I need to ask you what you see happening after that.”

“If you’re asking me to marry you, the answer’s yes.” He was half-teasing, but she looked a bit startled. 

“I’m not fishing for a ring,” she said softly. He had to smile. Agent Peggy Carter had no problem threatening and interrogating men twice her size, but discussing her feelings was apparently beyond her ken. Maybe it was her British reserve. He didn’t always have words for his feelings, but he tried speak them anyway. She was much more likely to show it with physical affection. He appreciated that, but it wasn’t effective when it came to decision making. Their necessary distance here at Camp Elliot was a good opportunity to do that, although he felt a little bad about catching her off guard.

“I know. I’m not trying to rush you, either.”

“Obviously I know you and Violet--but that doesn’t mean--marriage--even I was engaged once--” Peggy stammered. 

“You were? When was that?” Now it was his turn to be surprised, although it made sense she had never mentioned it.

“When I was still at Bletchley.” She was blushing now. Her code breaking experience was one of the unredacted bits of her file, before she made it into the SSR--before Captain America. He didn’t like the sense of relief he felt knowing she had been engaged to a mere mortal once. Maybe there were some things they still needed to learn before taking the next step. 

They weren’t going to get to now. Samberly sat down next to them with his tray.

“You looked good this morning, Aloysius,” Peggy said, apparently grateful for the distraction. “I’m so pleased you took my advice about regular physical activity.”

“I hated it so much in boot camp,” Samberly started. “But it’s really quite enjoyable when you get to start at your own pace…”

* * *

Breakfast was a brief affair, and then they headed over to one of the classrooms for the morning’s instruction. Desks were arranged so the teams would sit together, on opposite sides of the room from each other, and were laid with paper and pencils. 

“Good morning,” Commander Delaney entered the room as they got settled. “Agents of the SSR, you’re here to perform exercises that will help train you for the urban environment in which you operate. I don’t have to tell you that an urban field of engagement comes with far different obstacles than many field operations. What are some of the typical difficulties you run into in the urban environment?”

There was a long pause. Daniel just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes before offering an answer himself. “Limited sight lines,” he said. “Buildings, roads and parks all make it difficult to see or find what you’re looking for.”

“Tricky, for sure, but not always a bad thing. Limited sightlines protect as much as they hinder, and provide cover. We’ll be doing runs in the shoot house to practice operations. What is another?”

“People are so untidy,” Samberly said. “Criminals hang out in the worst places. You never know what kind of mess you’ll be walking into, from toxic chemicals to disease-ridden vermin to plain unsanitary conditions.”

“The intrepid Dr. Samberly, afraid of getting dirty,” O’Keefe said softly. “You’re going to be a great agent.”

Delaney gave him a hard look before continuing. “Those can all be very dangerous, it’s true,” he said. “Fortunately, usually the smell gives those things away. We won’t be covering any of those in this training, though. What else?”

“Dogs,” Engle said, shuddering. 

“Not just dogs,” Peggy said. “I’ve run across both lions and tigers.”

“No one’s interested in your weekends at Stark’s,” O’Keefe mumbled under his breath. Min laughed. 

“Some less intelligent types use them for intimidation,” Peggy continued. 

“Yes, but I would say the more exotic animals are easier to deal with,” Delaney continued. “You shoot them. They are unpredictable, so that’s the safest way. Most people have a harder time with dogs. If you like them, you’ll hesitate to shoot them. Even if you don’t like them, you might be searching a home and come up against someone’s pet instead of a guard dog. The owner won’t take kindly to you killing them--even if you’re pursuing a criminal. So the best thing to do is stand tall and glare at them, establish your dominance. If they attack, do your best to avoid the teeth. Hit them on the nose or go for the belly, and usually they will fall back. If they attack you, shooting them is fair, but if you can’t or won’t, try to get some furniture between you. Shuffle them into a room or closet and close the door. We have some canine decoys we can use in the shoot house. Okay, good, but no one has mentioned the most difficult problem to deal with.”

“People,” Mags said. “Innocent people."

“Innocent and otherwise,” Delaney nodded. “People are always the unknown factor. Terrain can be planned for, animals and dangerous situations can be countered or avoided. People will always surprise you. That’s why for this training we’ve split it into two parts. I will be running field operations. Instructor James Hanson is here to provide instruction and exercises on gathering human intelligence. James?”

At his introduction, the other man stood and headed for the front of the room. He was slender and rather unremarkable, middle aged and wearing civilian clothing.

“Thank you, Commander Delaney. At its most basic, collecting human intelligence is about asking questions. Sometimes it is about asking yourself questions, so you know where to look for answers. Just as often it's about asking questions of other people. We’ll talk some later about how to manipulate friendly and unfriendly situations to make a subject more amenable to answering your questions, but for this morning’s exercise, we’re going to concentrate on formulating questions. 

“You’re all on the hook for finding the other team’s vase, so I want everyone to take five minutes and think of three questions you could ask about the vase, other than ‘Where’d you hide it?’ You might consider questions about what the location is like, who hid it, and the discussions the other team had prior to stashing it.” O’Keefe had started to turn to Min, but Hanson continued. “This is an independent exercise. Five minutes starts now.”

Samberly and Peggy were the first to turn in their questions, followed by O’Keefe. Hanson accepted everyone’s sheets and started making notes on them. Once he had reviewed them all, he looked up.

“Now I can tell you what this exercise is actually about: reverse interrogation. Unless you’re undercover, the opportunity to do a real reverse interrogation is few and far between.” Daniel gave a thought to Jack at that, somewhere in New Mexico and hopefully not getting himself in trouble. They so rarely did long-term undercover operations at the SSR. They were thin enough after the war. They focused on straightforward investigations rather than missions that required building from the ground up. They had slid into being a reactive agency, rather than a proactive one.

“That doesn’t mean,” Hanson continued, “that the principles of the technique can’t be used in everyday efforts. For a real reverse interrogation you set up a situation where you are being interrogated by the enemy with some sort of ripcord for escape. Then you pay attention to their questions to learn what they’re concerned about: dates or locations, for example. It’s very high risk and therefore rare. However, it’s important to always be mindful that the questions you ask during an interrogation can give away information. It won’t always get you into trouble: many criminals are dumb or unable to act on what they might pick up. If you’re going up against other trained opponents--like your opponent team this week--you may sabotage yourself. 

“So we’ll take a look. Here are some good questions that narrow down the location of the vase without giving anything away. ‘Did you hide it inside or outside?’ These are good questions, but the phrasing isn't idea. Ask multiple follow up questions instead of a multi-part question. ‘Who suggested the present hiding spot?’ ‘How many suggestions were considered before a decision was reached?’ You know, I’m not entirely sure how knowing that one would help?”

“Longer debates tend out rule out more obvious hiding spots,” Engle said.

“I suppose, if you know what the other team would consider obvious. Anyway, those questions focus on the item and probably don’t give away very much of the asker’s thought process,” said Hanson. “Some of the other ones though? ‘Did you enlist the help of any base personnel when hiding the vase?’ Both Dr. Samberly and Agent Min had a version of that. I would guess both teams had help, which is interesting but not surprising.” O’Keefe shot Min a glare and Dr. Samberly groaned softly to himself. Mags started writing something that looked like a list. “Some of these are terribly specific as well. Two of Agent O’Keefe’s questions ask if Chief Sousa or Engle specifically suggested a location. I guess out of Team Lobo, he thinks those are the most predictable people for whatever reason.”

“How do you know what’s too revealing?” Samberly asked. “Most interrogations, the subject does not have your same objective.”

“That is the hard part,” Hanson said. “It depends on how much of the situation you already control--how much you do or do not know already, how likely it is you can keep a perp in custody. Much of it is down to experience.” Dr. Samberly looked displeased with this answer. “In most cases it is better to ask a question than not ask. Giving some information in trade is always a better deal than not having any, as you can’t act without it. In this case, what your colleagues do next will tell you a lot about how they think, which might be critical to finding their vase. Spurring action isn’t always a bad thing.” Which was a good reminder. Daniel didn’t want the mole to know he was on to them, but better to reveal that than be stuck in this stalemate forever.

“Okay, thank you, Instructor Hanson,” Commander Delaney said. “We’ll let you all mull the revelations while we move on to the first shoot house exercise.” He gave directions and everyone herded out of the room. 

Daniel didn’t miss Mags sticking her notes in her pants pocket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to know about Peggy running into lions and tigers? Read [irisdouglasiana's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/irisdouglasiana/pseuds/irisdouglasiana) [The Lady and the Tiger](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11691396)!!


	5. Chapter 5

“What are the notes for?” Daniel asked Mags quietly as they walked. She slowed a bit so they dropped back a little from the group.

“I made a list of everyone in the Officer’s Club last night,” she said. “We can ask them if they have the vase. There were only five who weren’t Team Toro.” She passed him the paper. It had pretty detailed descriptions of each of the people, down to the fruit salad on their uniforms.

“Do you always make note of everyone in a room?” he asked. 

“When I’m on the clock, or they’re all men,” she said. 

“Anyone in our group put you on edge that way?” He didn’t want his staff thinking they could get away with being fresh. They all knew better to get that way with Peggy or Rose, but Mags was new, attractive and unmarried.

She hesitated. “Not like _that_ \--but there’s something off about the Three Musketeers.” She nodded to where O’Keefe’s blond head was leading the two darker, shorter men. “I think Andy is okay, if you keep him away from the others. We’ve been on night duty a lot together and he’s more pleasant when there’s fewer men around. All together?” She shrugged a shoulder. “It could just be because I’m new, but something feels off there.” 

The group drifted through the door of a three-story tall hanger. Inside, Commander Delaney waited in front of a two story brick wall built under the ceiling. There were no lights on, but the door illuminated the wall and a sturdy scaffold. Accessible by a stair on one end, it ran near the top the wall. It looked like it went all the way around, providing room for multiple observers. 

“Welcome to the shoot house,” the Commander said. “We’ll be doing several exercises here. In our first scenario, you will be pursuing an armed subject into a house alone. While there is only one perp, this is a hot search exercise and you have no knowledge of who else might be in the building. Assume visibility will be compromised by low lighting. To begin with, I’d like each of you to choose your preferred weapon.”

One by one, everyone stepped up to the nearby tables, covered in a variety of firearms and other weapons. They each made their selection, checked the load and the safety, and stepped back.

Commander Delaney stepped in front of O’Keefe, who had chosen a Thompson machine gun. “Do you think this is funny?” he asked.

O’Keefe grinned a little too broadly. “You said they were armed. I want to be able to take them out, possibly from behind cover.” 

“You’d take out any civilians too, right through normal walls. Put that down.” Delaney walked turned to Min, who was holding a .45, and raised a brow.

“Stopping power,” Min said. “If I shoot them, I want them to go down.”

“I hope you have a lot of fire discipline, although that should be true of anyone in this situation. I hope your accuracy is good as well. That kind of round is likely to go through doors and some walls. We’ll see how it goes.” Delaney moved on to Peggy, who was holding a sawed off shotgun. 

“It won’t be fatal unless I’m on top of them, but that’s preferable in low lighting,” she said. 

Delaney nodded. “Unlikely to harm innocents unless they are being held hostage. It would be a preferable choice if you had a partner with something a little more accurate, but not a terrible choice in close quarters.”

Daniel and Engle were both holding .38 revolvers. “My usual weapon,” Engle said. 

“Mine as well, mostly because of the size. Larger weapons are awkward.” Daniel said. He didn’t have to say why. 

Mags and Valdez had picked up .22s. “Good for smaller people,” Delaney acknowledged. “Not much stopping power, if you run into someone who is manic. And you’re on the tall side, Agent Valdez. Some reason you want to conceal your firearm?” 

“In the dark, brandishing a firearm is still obvious and a good way to look hostile,” Valdez said. “In this situation, the perp also doesn’t know who else is in the building. Might as well use the confusion against them.”

Dr. Samberly was holding a cattle prod. 

“What are you going to do with that?” Delaney asked mildly.

“My night vision is horrible,” he said. “If I was in this situation, I would call for back up and watch the exits. Stun anyone who exited.” O’Keefe and Engle both started to snicker.

“A reasonable response to your own limitations, Doctor,” Delaney said. “You get extra points for your creativity. You still have to do the exercise though, so you and O’Keefe can choose new firearms. Who wants to go first?”

That would be Mags. Since they couldn’t watch with Delaney on the balcony--it would give them an unfair advantage, just knowing how the shoot house had been arranged--Daniel quickly decided this was an excellent time to give Rose a call and check in. Peggy decided to walk with him over to the office. 

“So… you were engaged?” he asked when they were out of earshot of the hangar. 

“Careful, Chief Sousa, what you ask. I might start to suspect that you are rather invested in the answers.” 

He recognized the joke as a deflection technique. “Thought that was obvious. I’m just curious, since you’ve never mentioned it.” He kept his tone light, but he recognized the uneasy tension Peggy was trying to hide as they walked.

“It feels like a lifetime ago,” she said softly. “You know I was a codebreaker. He was a Whitehall chap working coordination at home. Came from a good family.”

“Is that British for wealthy?” Peggy hadn’t been home to Massachusetts yet, but she knew he hadn’t been to college. He didn’t think it would matter, but maybe it had once.

“Yes.” She pulled a face. “It’s also a nice way to say there wasn’t much else interesting about him.”

That didn’t fit with the woman he knew. “Then--why?”

“He was nice enough. I suppose I was flattered that I caught his eye. I was more surprised than anything when he proposed. It seemed--normal. Which was in short supply at the time.” 

Daniel nodded. That felt uncomfortably familiar. He had loved Violet, but his initial attraction was more about what she represented. She might spend some of her off days surfing instead of whatever his sisters did out with their friends, but he knew what kind of life they’d have together. That was reassuring in a way he hadn’t realized he wanted. 

He wasn’t sure what kind of life he’d have with Peggy, but he wanted to start figuring it out. 

“And did you realize you wanted something else, or did it find you against your will?”

“An either-or question? Are you trying to pretend you don’t have a preference for one answer or the other?”

He paused, turning to her. “That would be a sloppy question if I was trying to interrogate you. I’m not. I’d like to hear, but you don’t have to tell me. I’m not sure I’d make all the same decisions again, if I knew what I knew now.” He tapped his crutch. 

She shook her head, smiling at him. “Of course you would. It--it was sort of both. I was offered a position with the SOE, but I wasn’t going to take it. I was already serving, and so were many others. Then my brother was reported dead.” She shrugged. “There were lots of reasons, ultimately. Why should I have what was denied so many others? Victory was hardly certain--how would I live with myself if I didn’t contribute to the fullest of my ability? If I’m being honest, though, it was what I wanted. I wanted more than just being an officer’s wife and a codebreaker. That’s why I didn’t go home after the war.” 

He stepped a little closer. His fingers itched to wrap around her waist, but mindful of where they were, he kept his hands to himself. “I’m glad,” he said softly. “Thank you for telling me.” 

She looked up at him, eyes uncertain. “It’s hard to imagine I was ever that diffident, to settle for a life like that.” 

“You didn’t, in the end,” he pointed out. “It didn’t last very long for some, but we were all young once. I doubt any of us are who we thought we’d turn out to be. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be married, or wanting some stability. Isn’t that what we fought for? C’mon--I still need to call Rose and we’ve got to get back for our turns.”

* * *

Peggy poked around the staff offices while he used the phone, clearly looking for the vase. He did his best not to look at Mrs. Preston or the box while it was hidden, and Peggy went off down the hall, interrogating every poor man trying to work in each office.

Rose confirmed that everything was still ship-shape back at the office. He’d had to name one of the male agents being in charge, but everyone knew that Rose was actually the authority. She had already started a collection for Engle. 

“And the other thing I asked you to do?” he asked. Rose was pulling together recent financial records for all the suspects. It was much easier for her to work on with all of them out of the office. 

“I’m still waiting to talk to a couple bank managers, and one wanted a warrant. It just came through, so that will be wrapped up shortly. I promise, Chief, I’ll have it all messengered down to the base as soon as I have it all together.”

“Thanks, Rose.”

“How is Mags doing? You’re not letting that blockhead Connor give her a hard time, are you?”

Peggy reappeared with empty hands and looking frustrated. He smiled at her. 

“O’Keefe? Naw, he’s focused more on Peggy since I made her team captain.” Peggy rolled her eyes at this and made a wrap-it-up gesture at him. He nodded. “Mags is doing really well. I think she’s going to be a great asset to our branch. Thanks again, Rose--don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Thank you, and good hunting, Chief.”

* * *

They weren’t halfway back when they ran into Mags. She was carrying Team Toro’s vase but looked perplexed rather than happy. She fell into step with them, on the other side of Peggy. 

“Everything okay?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know,” Mags said thoughtfully. “I was just over at the Officer’s Club--sweet talking this out of the bartender,” she gestured to the vase. “I was headed out the door and I heard someone on the hall phone say ‘SSR’ and he sounded angry, so I stopped to listen. It was hard to hear because a few people were having lunch in the Club. And he was angry, biting off his words, so he didn’t sound familiar. It sounded like he was telling someone how long we’d be here, and then he said ‘You asked, and I said do it now, before we get back.’ I didn’t see who it was, the bartender called out something to me and by the time I got out of there, no one was in the hall. I know this isn’t a secret mission or anything, but it just seemed--off.” 

Daniel traded a look with Peggy. He’d have to ask Dowden if the switchboard recorded numbers dialed from that phone. Meanwhile, Mags didn’t know about the mole.

“It does sound a bit strange. I’m sure it’s nothing, but thanks for telling me. Can’t be too careful.” Peggy shot him a glare, but they had arrived, and the others still waiting kept her from saying anything.

There were benches along one side of the hangar for people waiting their turn. The threesome sat there, ribbing each other about their performance. Samberly was up on the observation deck with Delaney, apparently having already taken his turn. That meant Valdez was in the house. 

There was a hollow bang of blank round, and Valdez appeared at the far end of the space, past the shoot house. 

“Highest score so far,” Delaney called down. “You’re up, Agent Carter. Let’s see if you can beat it.”

“Little early to be picking favorites,” O’Keefe muttered. 

“At least it’ll help our score. They said at the start that fire discipline was important,” Min said haughtily. “It’s your own fault you scored so low. Get your eye on the target and stop dragging us down.” 

“Get our vase from Mags and go hide it again,” Peggy suggested. “Maybe make a list of people who could have helped hide theirs, go ask some questions. Work on those teamwork points, investigating while the rest of us are busy.”

“Probably a good idea,” Delaney called down. “You have a little time before lunch. We’ll convene back in the classroom after.” O’Keefe and Min headed out. Engle stayed sprawled on the bench.

Mags went up with Samberly and Delaney, and Peggy went into the shoot house. Daniel sat down on the bench next to Engle and was joined by Valdez while he waited. 

“Top score, huh? I’m not looking forward to all the stairs.”

“Chief Sousa, if you’re trying to get me to comment on the number of stairs, it’s not going to work,” Valdez said. 

“Worth a try,” Daniel sighed. “How’d you do, Engle?” 

“Fine,” he said.

“You got dead,” Valdez said. 

Engle rolled his eyes. “There was one corner--I’m not going to tell Chief the details, Roberto, calm down. I got dead, but it was just one mistake. It didn’t hurt my score that much. Not like Connor’s. He took out every paper target in there, ‘innocent’ or otherwise. I guess he thought Delaney would be impressed with his marksmanship. Instead he got a lecture about how the shoot house is not a target range.”

“One mistake is enough to get dead for real,” Valdez said. “What’s up with Connor, anyway? He’s not usually this unreliable.”

Engle shrugged. “I haven’t really seen him outside of work that much lately. Maybe he’s got a girl and he’s frustrated to be here for a whole week.” 

There was another pop.

“Best time!” Delaney called as Peggy popped into view in the far end. “I will have to dock you for the sloppy clearing of rooms four and six.” 

“Good luck, Chief,” Valdez said as Daniel stood up. 

Just inside the shoot house door was a little table with white scraps of fabric. Daniel tied them on his arms and wrists and then put on a white cap, so Delaney could track his movements inside the dim enclosure. The shoot house weapons were marked with white paint already. 

He took a deep breath and raised his weapon. He checked the inside of the first door way before edging in. 

He was slow, clearing the rooms. He had to move very carefully to go quietly with his crutch. The shoot house was dressed like a very messy home, and he almost knocked over the contents of a table despite his care. The soft recorded noises playing were normal--dripping tap, distant voices as if outside-- but unnerving somehow. They made it feel almost like a real situation. The sounds and his search pattern led him to a paper target painted like a little girl hiding under a kitchen table, a woman in hall closet, and a blond man in a cardboard structure made to look like a bed. The perp was described as a male with dark hair, so he left them all unmolested. The first floor was clear.

There was only one flight of stairs. He’d probably be dead meat if he had to clear a stair alone. He could rush them and hope the perp would head the other way, but he decided it would be more prudent to wait at the bottom. He slammed the door and then tucked himself in a corner, lining up a shot that wouldn’t take out any of the innocents if he missed. 

“Clear!” Delaney called. “Good enough. If the perp wasn’t paper, that would be a good strategy for encouraging them to show themselves.” 

“Gonna mark me off for not clearing the top floor?” Daniel asked once he exited the shoot house. “I deserve it.” 

“It’s only fair,” Delaney agreed. “You’re getting more tactical points anyway. Enjoy your lunch.”


	6. Chapter 6

At lunch, Peggy divided her team up and gave them each a set of tables. They were to poll the base personnel eating their lunch about the vase, asking if they had heard or seen any of the other team hiding it. 

“Make a list of everyone you talk to,” Peggy said. “We’ll need to track down anyone who isn’t here, if we don’t find it.”

“When are we supposed to eat?” O’Keefe whined. 

Valdez rolled his eyes and handed him half his sandwich. “Here, eat this as you go. Captain’s orders.” The men and Peggy all got up and started questioning the servicemen and women just trying to enjoy their lunches.

“That’s pretty obvious,” Samberly said. 

“That’s Peggy,” Daniel said. “Covert intelligence gathering has a lot of advantages, but it tends to be rather slow. There’s no reason to use those tactics unless it’s the only way to get what you need. They have the manpower and it’s only a matter of time before they find it. Consider some new hiding places.”

“It’s not any different than what I did,” Mags said. “I just had more information, which gave me a much shorter list. Which reminds me, when they left to hide the vase again, they went northeast.”

Samberly goggled at her. “You were in the hangar with me. How do you know that?”

“I recruited some spies,” she said in a whisper, watching the others move around the tables. “We couldn’t do it for the first time, clearly, and the second time it didn’t help. I found out who the usual tower guards were and asked them to keep an eye out for O’Keefe and note his movements. There aren’t that many blond men here on base who aren’t wearing their cover, and even fewer Asian men. It’s pretty easy to spot O’Keefe and Min together.” This base, like many, was studded with towers manned during the day by spotters, watching for cloaked aircraft or trespassers on foot. At night, they had patrols that walked the perimeter. 

“How did you know they’d help?” Samberly said. 

“Doesn’t hurt to ask. Anyway, I got the report that they headed northwest and went either into or behind these buildings here,” Mags said, pointing at the base map. “They came back without the vase. So all we have to do is search these buildings where they could move unseen.”

“Great work. Peggy hates to ask others for help, so building a network of spies probably hasn’t occurred to her,” Daniel said. “Although this won’t help much if they move at night.”

“The rules don’t say we have to turn the vase in right away,” Mags pointed out. “We can always wait until morning to turn it in and provide ourselves with an advantage. Meanwhile, I know just where to hide ours next.”

* * *

They spent the afternoon reviewing what each person had done right or wrong during the morning exercise. Since the shoot house wasn’t staffed with live targets, shooting the perp target was ultimately a matter of timing. Take too long on your search, and you got dead. Get up the stairs quick enough, and you got to shoot him first. 

“A long staircase like we had set up is impossible to safely clear with one person anyway,” Delaney said. “Unless a shadow or noise gives away where the perp is standing, they’re probably going to blast you on your way up. That’s why only Dr. Samberly and Chief Sousa got full tactical points for this exercise: both of them thought of ways around it. Those aren’t always available, so this is where the teamwork comes in, everyone.”

He dragged them all into the staircase and demonstrated the proper way of clearing one from the ground up. Then Delaney split everyone into teams of two and made them practice. 

“I’m going first,” Mags said when it was their turn. This strategy had the quicker and/or smaller of the pair taking lead, to be covered from the rear by the other member. Daniel wanted to argue with her, on general principle, but she was right. The lead shooter took the right hand side. Providing cover was easier for him, because he got to lead with his left side and lean on forward on the crutch. If he stood on the right, his keeping his back to the wall of the stairs would put the crutch in his left hand behind him and down a stair. 

After practice, they walked over to the shoot house again for scoring. Mags wanted to go first again. 

“Are you really enjoying our little treasure hunt that much?” Daniel asked as they selected their weapons. 

Mags selected a shotgun before answering. “I’m enjoying the dismayed looks every time I show up with that ridiculous vase,” she said. “And I like puzzles. That’s why I wanted to join the SSR.” 

Inside the shoot house, the walls had been rearranged. Instead of the staircase being in the center back, it turned out to be on the back right. They cleared the rooms more quickly looking together, and then attempted the staircase. The paper target popped up almost unexpectedly, dragged by a string, only to be shredded by Daniel’s cover fire. They cleared the upstairs without issue.

Delaney let Mags go off on her hunt. “C’mon,” Peggy said to O’Keefe. “Let’s go next, and then we’ll have time to check our lists from lunch against the base roster and find who we’re missing. No cowboy stuff this time.”

Daniel hauled himself up to the ledge to watch with Delaney. Peggy let O’Keefe take the lead, which wasn’t as they’d been advised, but probably made O’Keefe happier and lent Peggy more control. 

He was pretty sure she hesitated on purpose until the crack sounded from the tape and a light flashed, indicating the paper target had “fired.” Then she took her shot and left the ‘dead’ O’Keefe on the stairs and finished the exercise alone.

“Way to let me down, Carter,” O’Keefe complained as they came around to the front of the house again. “What, did you get distracted by a run in your stocking?”

“You’re not blaming that one on me, Connor,” Peggy told him. “You were looking right when you were supposed to be looking left.”

“You’d only know that if you were looking at me instead of for the perp!” he accused. She looked like she was struggling to keep from rolling her eyes.

“I saw which way you were looking, because you leaned into my eyeline instead of staying flush with the wall. I couldn’t see anything but that thick Irish skull of yours. Get the lists from the other men and go up to the front office and ask for the base rolls. I’ll be there in a few to help you check.”

Daniel caught her significant look and went down to her while Samberly and Engle got ready.

“What’s up? This is a perfect time for me to be talking to Min and Valdez,” Daniel said quietly, as they moved outside.

“I think we should read Mags in,” she said. “And maybe Samberly.”

“You’re suggesting we read someone in? If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re trying to get some advantage here, sidelining my best treasure hunters,” he said, walking towards the office. “You owe me a dollar already.”

“It’s not like I need one,” she said loftily as she paced him. “It’s only the first day, and we’re closing in on your accomplice. No, I think Mags is smart and she’s new. She can ask questions it would be awkward for us to ask.” 

“Not getting anywhere with O’Keefe, huh?”

“Don’t do that,” she said. “You heard what Mags said. Hugh Jones is doing something right now, while we’re out of town with the person who betrayed us. We should find out what, and to do that, we need to figure out who the mole is.”

“So go figure it out.” He gestured towards the office building as he stopped walking. Daniel really just wanted to go back to the hangar.

Peggy stepped up to him, arching an eyebrow. “So it will go faster if we read more people in. You already read Rose in.”

“That’s different,” he said, jaw tightening. 

“Now it’s my turn to ask you where your hesitation is coming from. I know it’s not because she’s a woman. You have to admit she seems nearly as skilled as us,” Peggy said with clear frustration.

“Of course that’s not it. I don’t doubt her qualifications at all.” 

“Well, then? You’re the one who is always telling me I have to learn to rely on others to get the job done. Why won’t you lean on Mags?”

“She’s--new. I don’t mean green. She wasn’t here for any of that Zero Matter nonsense. It’s not fair--”

“It’s not fair to ask her to do her job?”

“It’s not fair to ask her to clean up my mess!” He managed not to yell it, just barely. 

Peggy’s face softened, her hand reaching for his. “Oh, Daniel. This isn’t your fault.” 

He shook off her touch. “Isn’t it? I hired these men. I don’t know who else to blame.”

“Greed, probably. Blackmail, possibly. Ego, if it turns out to be O’Keefe. There’s a million reasons that have nothing to do with you. It doesn’t make you a bad chief.”

He sighed. “It makes me feel like one. And now we’re going to drag our newest recruit right into this mess and let her know how FUBAR this situation is.”

“She probably already noticed,” Peggy said dryly. He shot her a wounded look. “Daniel, you have to admit we end up working outside the SSR quite a bit.”

“It’s not that often,” he protested. “This is part of the Isodyne case. It’s not anyone’s fault Whitney ended up committed and Vernon ended up dead or missing. Or that he told Vega and Blackwell nothing about the Council. We have Jack’s case report, but with him playing dead, it’s not surprising a prosecutor won’t touch Jones and the remaining Council members.”

“You’ve left out what we’re doing with Jack while he plays dead; that’s not exactly above board either. Let’s not get distracted. We need to get this leak locked down and Hugh Jones out of the way. Then we can return Jack to the land of the living and find that blasted file.”

They had figured out between them that Jack’s damned missing M. Carter file--the one that got him shot--wasn’t about Margaret Carter, but Michael. Since he was supposed to be dead at the time of the recorded activities, Peggy’s brother might still be alive. The one silver lining was that they had detected the mole before they had found Jack’s shooter. The real revelations had been kept need-to-know. Peggy was right: the secrets were stacking up and the situation had become untenable, even without her need to know what had really happened to her brother. 

A thought occurred to him, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized it before. Peggy hadn’t mentioned much about her brother. Of course it was important to learn his fate. Even taking that as assumed between them, and her natural reserve, he would hope she’d share something. She hadn’t, but asking her about that would have to wait.

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll read Mags in tonight. Are you gonna report me if I sneak into your barracks later?”

“Maybe,” she said smiling. “I guess you’ll have to try it and see.”


	7. Chapter 7

Team Toro ferreted their vase out from under Mrs. Preston that afternoon and were rather boisterous at dinner. There wasn’t an opportunity for private discussion, so Daniel was unable to ask about Michael. After, he let the other men go off to the phones and the Officer’s Club during their free time. He’d have to get in there soon to buy some drinks and ask some questions. Tonight the priority was reading in Mags.

He stopped in at the men’s barracks first to check on his leg. It was convenient Samberly was the only one there, reading what looked like a book on interrogation.

“Dr. Samberly, I thought you were going to the club?” Daniel took his kit out from his trunk before doffing his trousers and his prosthetic and sitting on the bed.

“I wasn’t invited,” he said stiffly, turning the page. “I made sure everyone else was occupied and then I concealed the vase again. Then I didn’t have anything better to do, so I came back here.”

“Oh. Thanks for taking care of the vase. I’m sure you found a good spot,” Daniel said. Samberly sniffed. His tone hadn’t quite been a whine, but the man was obviously put out. Still, this was an excellent opportunity to narrow down his suspects. “You didn’t leave the hanger during the first exercise today, right? Was anyone else in there with you the whole time?” 

Samberly put down his book and eyed him. “That’s a strange question, Chief Sousa. Are you keeping track of everyone’s movements, or are you interested in someone specific?”

“If you want to know something, it’s a bad idea to ask either-or questions. It’s confusing. As your interrogee one question, and if they answer negatively, state the other one as fact. They’ll hopefully provide their own answer, or at least be obvious when they lie and answer negatively again.”

“Okay. Are you interested in the specific movements of someone?”

“Nope.” This might not have been the best time to teach Samberly. 

“So you’re keeping track of everyone’s movements. Why?”

“I’m not. I’m just testing your powers of observation,” Daniel said. He made sure to make brief eye contact with Samberly in between checking his skin with a compact mirror from his kit. The end of his leg looked to be in fine condition. His hands went through the motions of powdering and putting on a new stump sock automatically.

“Uh-huh.” Samberly did not sound convinced. “You and Carter took off. O’Keefe and Engle went outside for a smoke while Mags went first. It was my turn after Mags, so I don’t know what happened while I was in the shoot house. When I came out, she had gone after the vase. I went up on the balcony with Commander Delaney then and Engle went next. When Engle finished, Delaney sent him back outside to get someone and Andy came in.” Samberly paused. 

“I’m not sure when Roberto left, but he was gone for some time. He and Engle were both back to see Delaney read O’Keefe the riot act, and then Roberto went next. You and Carter and Mags came back around then.”

That was less helpful than he had hoped. It sounded like of all of them, Andy might not have had time to go and make a phone call, but it depended on how long a call it was. The building hosting the Officer’s Club wasn’t very far from the shoot house hangar. He couldn’t rule out anyone.

Samberly caught his sigh and looked at where Daniel’s hands had stilled on his legs.

“So are you going to tell me why you really wanted to know? Or are you going to keep pretending all your little tête-á-têtes with Carter are an ongoing lovers’ spat?”

“They are, more or less.” Daniel started to don the prosthetic once more. His grudging tone must have been convincing.

“Really?” Samberly said, sitting up. “Is she going to give you the brush off?” Samberly sounded _worried_.

“Nothing so dramatic, I don’t think. We’re talking about the future. Or I’m trying to get her to talk about the future.”

“And you have different plans?”

Daniel sighed. He really did not want to talk about this with Samberly, but personal tidbits were a good way to take him off the scent. Samberly treated people like they were any other problem to solve, and if he could collect enough data, he could finally figure them out.

“No, there’s no plan. This was a bit of a surprise, to both of us. Any relationship takes some--adjusting.”

“You can figure it out, Chief. Go talk to her.”

It was all he could do not to roll his eyes. If Samberly hadn’t just given him cover for what he was going to do anyway, he probably wouldn’t have kept the sarcasm from his voice. “Thanks, Dr. Samberly. I’m going to go do that now.” He paused on his way out of the door. “You know, you could consider integrating yourself with our fellow agents as another exercise in spycraft. It doesn’t matter if you like them, or they like you--you still have to work together.” 

Samberly looked thoughtful as he departed. It wasn’t entirely ethical to encourage his agents to manipulate each other, but they were all professionals. When they hopefully recognized what was happening, it might buy Samberly a little respect. Besides, Samberly was entirely too clever. Daniel didn’t need him commenting on his relationship or ferreting out the real problem.

Daniel looked both ways, just in case, before slipping into the women’s barracks. Peggy had obviously told Mags he was coming. She looked unsurprised at his arrival.

“I thought our barracks was cavernous with the six of us,” he said, walking down to where the women sat on adjacent bunks. He made sure to leave a reasonable amount of space between himself and Peggy when he sat with her.

“At least it’s a real barracks,” Mags said cheerfully. “You should have seen some of the bungalows the girls and I were shoved into in Hawaii. Most of them were cockroach-infested firetraps. So what kind of disaster is going on, that you need to read the new girl in?”

“It’s about Hugh Jones--” Peggy said.

“We have a mole--” Daniel said at the same time. 

“That’s not good,” Mags said slowly. “I suppose that explains the phone call I heard today. The mole is at this training with us.” 

Daniel nodded. “And we trust Dr. Samberly. The others all had opportunity. We’re still digging into motive, but money is generally a good one.”

Mags shook her head. “I don’t know that just money would be enough. You should hear your men talk about you, Chief.”

“What do you mean?” Peggy asked.

“You probably don’t hear it, Peggy, since you two are--involved. The men in our office are worse than any clutch of little old ladies, the way they gossip and speculate. I hadn’t finished my first day and I had already heard about how Chief Sousa was clearly some sort of master spy. How you brought in two big cheese East Coasters,” she nodded at Peggy, “when you couldn’t trust your own men or your boss. Then one minute that crooked boss has you in lockup, and the next he’s missing and presumed dead and Whitney Frost is in custody.”

“That’s not exactly how it happened,” Daniel said. 

“So you didn’t get thrashed by traitors from your own staff and then show up the next day to face down Vernon Masters anyway?” she asked. 

“Well… yes. I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” Daniel said.

“Your men respect you,” Mags said. “Loyalty is born out of admiration. And you took out the majority of those following Masters in one swoop, so fear is probably a factor as well. I think it would take more than a little bribe to keep a mole operating in that office.” 

“Or they’re the odd man out,” Daniel said. “I can’t be universally loved.”

“Maybe not,” Mags said. “But no one has said a bad word about you when I’m around.”

“That might be a place to start,” Peggy said. “Mags could get them all alone and ask them individually what they think of you. If anyone is standoffish or too effusive…” 

“It might be one thread,” Daniel said. “I think we’ll all have to ask a lot of questions this week, in interest of unit cohesion, of course. Get to know one another. Slip in the odd question about the Jones investigation and see who trips up.”

“That’s all you want me to do? I know that I’m new, Chief, but are there reasons we’re not doing something more--proactive?” Mags asked.

“Yes,” he said, tone clipped. Beside him, Peggy made a disapproving sound. “We don’t want to tip off the mole that we’re looking for him. He might get away--or worse, go silent for a time. We’d be left with a choice between leaving ourselves compromised and sacking three good agents to get one bad one.”

“Meanwhile, we’re vulnerable. How long are we going to dance around this?” Peggy asked. 

“A good question. I could ask you the same thing.” He hadn’t meant to get defensive, but the women’s questions reminded him this situation was his fault to begin with. Some master spy he was. 

“What are you on about now?” Peggy asked. Her voice was that deadly calm that meant she was upset and possibly about to do something rash. 

Mags looked between both of them. “You know what? I had a hot tip on that vase. I’m just going to look for it now, swing by the Officer’s Club if I find it.” She fled the barracks.

Daniel sighed before reaching out for Peggy’s hand. “You tend to take decisive action, Peg, but you’re hesitating with us. I think you like me alright, so there must be some reason you’re afraid to talk about our future.”

“Of course I like you, you impudent, ridiculous man. That doesn’t mean I’m afraid.”

“It would be reasonable if you were, is all I’m saying. I hope you know I’m not going anywhere.”

“You do have an annoying habit of throwing yourself at danger,” she said.

“We both do. And?”

She pursed her lips. “Did you and Violet discuss having children?” 

“A little bit. She wanted to know if I would mind her working part time and having her mom help us out. I told her it would be great as long as her mom didn’t overfeed them the way she did me.” He paused, thinking it over. “We don’t have a job you can do part time, do we? Or parents nearby to lean on.”

“We do not.”

He shrugged. “We have time to figure it out. It’s impossible to know what our situation will be like in the future.” Daniel had to smile. “You’d have to go on desk duty once you started showing. I don’t envy the perp for your first case back, after a few months of that.”

“You wouldn’t expect me to quit?”

“I can’t even picture it. My sister had to leave her job when she started showing. It only took about a month before she started wishing she had lied and said she was gaining weight. She’s going stir crazy. I can’t imagine you’d make it that long. Tillie’s probably going to have our older sister watching the baby as soon as he’s big enough, and go back to work.”

“What if it means you have to step back instead?”

He looked at her blankly, but she didn’t see it, instead staring at his hand with hers in her lap. “I might have to anyway.” He tapped his crutch on the ground. “I’ve been prepared for the possibility for a long time. I--didn’t necessarily expect to get married and have children, either, so I’m flexible.” Daniel shook his head. “Sometimes it seems like just yesterday I was still in the hospital, not knowing what life was going to bring, only that it was forever changed. It’s all happened pretty fast, in three short years--the SSR job, the promotion, relocating and now you--”

“You have been pretty busy,” she said, looking up at him now, a half smile on her face. “Romancing different women and saving the world on occasion.” 

He snorted. “That aside, I don’t want to keep being--swept along. I don’t want to get buried in work and then look up and realize life has passed us by. It’s not my intention to pressure you into anything if you aren’t ready. But I don’t want to just drift along. I want to plan and act. What do those plans look like? I know I want them to include you and your desires, so you have to tell me what they are. If you’re not sure, we can talk about that too. Let’s make these decisions together.”

“I know one thing I desire for sure,” Peggy said, her voice deepening. She leaned over and caught his lips with her in a gentle kiss. Suddenly Daniel was very aware that they were alone in a room with a lot of bunks. On a military base.

A banging on the door stopped them before they could get into trouble. Hanson’s voice sounded from outside. 

“SSR needs to convene in the mess hall. It’s time for our first evening exercise.”

* * *

Back in the mess, there was some grumbling about an unscheduled exercise. 

“Sometimes a new lead breaks when you least expect it,” Hanson said to the room in general. “Don’t worry, this won’t be too taxing, even though a couple of you were at the Officer’s club. That might even make it easier. I’d like for you all to take a few sheets of paper. Write down everything you know or can observe about your fellow agents on both teams. You’ll get more points for more details, but knowing a little about everyone is worth more than knowing everything about one person. Work habits are important, but so is information about relationships, family. Think about everything you would want to know about a mark or a recruit and write it down. Then I’ll compare your notes and we’ll chat a little about where I see weaknesses in your team. You have half an hour.”

That seemed like a dreadfully short amount of time to write everything he knew about seven of his people. Daniel could guess at the sort of things that Hanson wanted. It wasn’t regurgitating Samberly’s degrees or Min’s classified time at Camp X, a training center in Canada very similar to this one.

About halfway through the task, they were interrupted by the mess hall door flying open with a bang. Four men ran through shouting, only two of them in uniform. One of the uniformed offices drew a pistol and fired a shot, appearing to catch one of the plainclothes men in the back. He fell, and the uniformed men went right on by him, chasing the other plainclothes man into the kitchen.

Peggy and O’Keefe were both on their feet, but Hanson waved them back down. The plainclothes man got up and followed the others out of sight.

“Okay everyone, please take a five minute break from writing down your observations about your coworkers. Describe the scene that just happened, in the fullest detail possible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mid-lecture observation pop quiz is a real technique they used at [Camp X Secret Agent School](http://www.history.ca/camp-x-secret-agent-school/)


	8. Chapter 8

They all got fairly good marks when it came to reporting on the staged chase. As Hanson said, it was a situation primed to make any agent or cop pay attention. He didn’t spend much time on it, other than reviewing a few tricks for mnemonic devices, helpful for some of the smaller details. 

Their scores varied wildly when it came to the original exercise.

“There’s a remarkable amount of conflicting information here,” Hanson said. “Some of that is to be expected. The more you learn about a case, target or person, the more your impressions can change. Some of you have also been around longer than others. That contributes to both your own impressions and how much others have had time to learn. But there’s still surprisingly little consensus here.”

“Can you provide an example?” Samberly asked.

“Yes. Agent Min, feel free to say no, but do you mind if we discuss what your coworkers said about you?” Min shrugged, and Hanson continued. “It doesn’t sound like anyone here is describing the same person at all. Some people have described him as reserved, others as a warm and open person. If I didn’t know better, I might think he’s misleading some of you on purpose. It’s more likely that he only shares certain things with those he feels most comfortable with. For example, only one of you wrote down how he hopes to get engaged soon. Is that surprise to the rest of you?”

“Well, yeah,” O’Keefe said. “I didn’t even know you had a girl, Andy. I guess you can’t trust someone who worked in a lie factory.” 

“I was the one who did propaganda in the war, fat-head,” Engle said. “He probably didn’t want you giving him a hard time about it.” 

“It’s not a secret,” Min protested. “Connor, you asked me once how I did with the ladies, and I said I did fine. I guess you drew some conclusions from that.” 

“Which is an excellent comment,” Hanson said. “There’s a lot of assumptions and suppositions in what are supposed to be your observations. Interpretations of your observations can be useful, but it’s important to keep your facts separate from your guesses about what they mean. As an example, your observations about your female teammates are more interpretive and less factual. 

“Understandable, but it betrays how your interests have prejudiced the collection of facts. Will it be more helpful to know that Agent Carter worked with Captain America, or that she’s an exceptional codebreaker? Since you’re pitted against at least one of them this week, you’d be better off scrutinizing their abilities as agents.”

“Did we do well at anything?” O’Keefe asked. 

“Of course. You all provided a good amount of detail, as I would expect. You spend quite a bit of time together. The accounts of Agent Valdez and Chief Sousa all matched up. It is concerning how little most of you know about Dr. Samberly; you might be surprised how much he knows about you.”

“Not really. Never forgets a slight, do you, Doctor?” Samberly rolled his eyes at O’Keefe’s remark.

“Okay, Agents,” Hanson said, collecting their note sheets. “I’ll have individual assessments on your strengths and weakness is the morning. You’re dismissed on your own recognizance. I wouldn’t stay up too late, if I were you.”

With the first day of training down, the mood in the barracks was much more relaxed. O’Keefe seemed to be the only one who was more tense. He snatched up his dopp kit and stomped into the bathroom as soon as they got back.

“You don’t think he’s really mad at me, do you?” Min asked Engle. 

“I don’t know what’s up with him,” Engle replied. “I have better things to worry about than his little snits.”

“How’s your sister doing?” Valdez asked as he dug around in his luggage. 

Engle shrugged. “She sounded better today. How is the Mrs.?”

“Good. Tired. Hopefully this will be our last bebe.”

“You’re gonna finish up just in time for Andy to start. Andy, who’d you tell about the girl? And are you gonna tell _us_?” Engle asked as O’Keefe finally exited the bathroom.

“Her name’s Jiao but she goes by Jenny now. Her family came over during the war.” He blushed. “I, um, asked Mags for advice on the proposal. I’ll have to ask her father, but I know she’ll want an American proposal too.”

“What does Mags know about proposals?” O’Keefe asked.

“She has friends,” Min said. “And I guess she was engaged once too. Fiance died in the war.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“No wonder she didn’t want to go out with me,” O’Keefe said. That was met with groans all around and a pair of socks bounced off his forehead. “What?”

* * *

Daniel woke a few minutes before reveille in the morning, and there was less groaning from the others when it sounded. It didn’t take long to revert back to old habits, everyone shuffling out in their sweats. 

He was the last to breakfast. The others were eating in their athletic clothing. He’d still needed to dry off and change after his morning swim, the others instructed not to bother after their run. Peggy and Mags had saved him a seat, or maybe they’d just chased off anyone who approached. They were eating together at the back of the room. Samberly had integrated himself with the other men. The five of them were eating companionably a few tables over. Daniel caught a glance from Min and Engle at his entrance.

He got his tray and sat with the women just in time to watch Peggy attempt to remove the top of a boiled egg. It proved to be hard instead of soft-boiled. She sighed disgustedly before rolling it on her tray and peeling it. 

“Hard-boiled are better than the dehydrated ones we had yesterday,” Mags observed. “They probably just got a delivery.”

“If I wanted overcooked eggs, I’d cook them myself,” Peggy grumbled. “Daniel, promise me you’ll cook me your eggs when we get ho--get out of here.”

“Do you do something special, Chief Sousa?” Mags asked.

“He cooks them in some sort of spicy tomato paste,” Peggy said. “Until the whites are just barely done, so you can slather it all on toast, which is the only way to eat them.”

“My sister made them like that all the time,” Daniel explained. “We raised our own chickens, so we ate a lot of eggs. I got pretty sick of them. Ines concocted it based on one of our grandmother’s old recipes, to convince me to eat them instead of squandering all my pennies on hot dogs at the beach.” 

“She’s the eldest, huh?” Mags was the eldest in her family.

“Yeah. Being a younger sibling means that you always have someone looking out for you, even when you don’t want it. They think they always know better. Did you ever feel like that, Peggy?” She narrowed her eyes at his leading question. He kept the smile off his face, but barely.

“Occasionally, but not often, honestly,” she said. “Maybe when we were younger, but I barely remember before he went off to boarding school.”

“That must have been hard,” Daniel said. “My sisters were busy, and more so when they got into high school, but they were always there.”

“It was dreadfully quiet after he left, but he wrote me often. His school had mandatory letter writing periods. He didn’t always have anything to report to Mum about grades or Father about sports, so he wrote me long stories about his classmates.” Her lips twisted in a wry smile. “Mum would read them, of course. She just wanted to know how he was doing. It wasn’t long before we had worked out a code so we could communicate securely. I’d get a letter and drop whatever I was doing to decode. After I’d read the decryption, I’d burn it and then decide what bits of truth I’d share with our parents.”

“Was the code your idea?” he asked. 

“His, actually. He made up codes and sold them to the older boys who wanted to send secret messages to their sweethearts. It was my idea to change it every so often.”

Commander Delaney entered the room. “Five minute warning, SSR folks. Please get yourselves over to Building C.”

* * *

Building C proved to be an athletic training center. It housed boxing and gymnastics equipment, padded dummies, an honest-to-god ring, and even some weights for Olympic lifts. Commander Delaney stood by the ring and waited until they all drifted in.

“During the war, we taught that every physical confrontation should be as swift and brutal as possible. Kill or be killed, it’s a lecture I’m sure all of you have heard. It’s no longer wartime, so our methods must change as well. You should still not hesitate to use deadly force if you or others are in danger, but for the most part you’re up against fellow countrymen, and ones that might have information at that. Your missions will vary, so your approach to physical confrontation must vary as well. 

“I will stress that the smartest thing to do is to avoid a fight. Get in close and anything can happen. It might be easier than you think, as even criminals are often reluctant to engage. Fighting hurts. If you have to do it, here are some things to consider.”

They spent maybe ninety minutes with Delaney alternately lecturing and demonstrating non-lethal but painful strikes on a dummy. Then he watched them practice on their own dummies. He made sure to stress that most locks would be still be useless unless you could follow up with handcuffs immediately. 

“The only thing a lock is good for is helping establish an advantage of position or balance, but you can do that without them. Knock an opponent off balance, and the advantage is yours. We can’t really practice that with the dummies, which leads me to the fun part: each of you will now spar against a member from the other team.”

“I got a greenback on you, Mags,” O’Keefe said immediately. “You take Carter down, I’ll split my winnings with you.” 

“The matches were arranged by drawing names,” Delaney said evenly. “After all, you might have to fight a woman in the field. And the women are certain to have to defend themselves from male opponents. So you will be the one sparring with Agent Langdon, Agent O’Keefe.” Delaney went on to give the rest of the pairings--met by chuckles and anxious murmurs--and then went over some safety rules. “We’re not trying to hurt each other. This is more about mental preparation to be in another person’s space. Each pair will take a turn, best of three rounds. Who wants to go first?

“Oh, Daniel and I will go,” Peggy said. He nodded. Better to go first and get it out of the way. 

“Don’t go easy on her just because she’s your girl, Chief,” Min said.

“I hope she’ll go easy on me,” Daniel replied. He leaned his crutch in the corner of the boxing ring before stepping through the ropes. It was uncomfortable to lift his prosthetic that high, the belt that held it around his waist pulled taut with the motion. Peggy climbed in after him as he slid his arm back into his crutch’s brace. Delany waited until they were set and then gave the ready signal.

Predictably, Peggy moved in fast, throwing her right elbow up in a block while she leaned to her left, aiming to push his right hip. She knew his prosthetic knee did not move backwards and shoving it could lock it in place and get him off balance. He had been ready for her, his weight on his prosthetic to push off and move his left side into her motion. He ducked his head to avoid her elbow and pushed her in the direction she was already moving. In the same motion, he stabbed his crutch tip in between her feet. Peggy went down, to assorted cheers and jeers from everyone watching. She ignored them, getting to her feet quickly.

“Point for Chief Sousa,” Delaney said. “Carter, you telegraph your movements. You can’t always rely on your opponent being surprised by your aggression. Try again.”

This time, Daniel didn’t wait for Peggy’s charge. He swung his crutch at her head, hoping to make her turn away so he could sneak in close. Instead, she brought her arms up and tugged the crutch in the direction of his swing. He released it, feeling the cuff scrape along his arm, his right forearm going for a jab at her gut. It wasn’t as powerful as a punch, but that was the point. He was too slow, though, and Peggy had moved in right up against his chest and hooked a foot behind his good ankle. 

Daniel went down, hard, right on his ass. The cheers were louder as Peggy picked up his crutch. She offered it back to him once he had picked himself up off the floor. 

“Better,” Delaney said. “Chief Sousa, most people will probably go for the bad leg, but you need to be ready to shift your weight if they go for the good one.” 

Easier said than done. 

“Do you need a minute?” Peggy asked seriously, but he caught the twinkle in her eye. 

“Nah,” he said, smiling.

He stayed on his toes and this time when she rushed him, he forced himself to pivot around her. It tweaked his prosthetic a little--he felt it twist against its belt and around the stump sock--but he got behind her and got his arm around her throat.  
Peggy responded by throwing herself backwards, but she was unable to also break his hold and Daniel dragged her down with him. Fortunately for his hips, he managed to twist them as they fell. They landed on their left sides with a huge whump sound on the mat.

“Ow,” Peggy muttered. 

“I think we’re going to call this a tie,” Delaney said in the silence that followed. “Who’s next?”

They exited the ring, the other agents still quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "lie factory" is a facility where they make and distribute propaganda. Engle worked at one in Asia during the war -- just like [Julia Child!](https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/julia-child.html)


	9. Chapter 9

“Who’s next?” Delaney asked again.

“Let’s go, Connor,” Mags said, grinning. O’Keefe gulped. 

While they got ready, Daniel sidled up to Min.

“Congratulations on your impending engagement, Agent,” he said. “When are you going to pull the trigger?”

“When my house is paid off, in a few more months,” Min said. “That’s still the way things are done back in China. Jenny is excited to be American, but her family still has expectations.”

“Makes sense,” Daniel said. Min was on the young side to be paying off his mortgage, but it wasn’t impossible he could do it without help. Daniel struggled to remember what Min did before the war. It took a minute, but he worked in some sort of factory, and foreman before he was drafted. Daniel made a note to see what Rose dug up on his finances.

In the ring, Mags managed to get O’Keefe down, but he rolled back up to his feet before she could press her advantage. Min called out encouragement before responding.

“I hope you don’t think I was keeping things from you, Chief. I’m nervous, I guess, and after what happened with your--umm--” He winced.

Daniel repressed a sigh. This was not going the way he wanted it to. “It’s okay, Andy. Everything worked out.”

“Did it? I mean, I heard…” His eyes cut to Peggy. “You two do seem to have your heads together a lot, and it doesn’t look like everything’s worked out. Maybe you should have let her win.”

O’Keefe slammed down to the mat. Mags had him pinned. 

“I know better than that.” Daniel knew how Samberly had gotten in with the others now. The problem was, it wasn’t bad cover. He let his eyes drop, rubbing his neck. “We did sort of rush into things, I guess. Maybe I rushed it twice.” On the contrary, proposing to Violet had made all the sense in the world, if it hadn’t been for Peggy. “It doesn’t seem like you’re repeating my mistakes though. Paying off the house, you have a good job…”

Min smiled. “I guess it’s not a bad thing, having everything in order beforehand. Hey, maybe we can all go out together sometime? Or you could just join us for dinner one night, if that doesn’t work out.”

“Sure, Andy. I’ll check with Peggy. Does Jenny cook?”

Min smiled. “Better than my own mother, even though she’s still getting used to a different range of ingredients. Just don’t tell anyone I said that.” 

Daniel recognized in him the same anticipation he felt when he thought about his future with Peggy, the same hopeful excitement tipped with anxiety. Daniel knew what he was willing to do for Peggy--and he couldn’t say he would absolutely stop short of treason. 

In the ring, Mags waited for O’Keefe to make the first move. He was fast, but she was good. He went down again.

“Uncle,” he sighed. “I’m glad you’re on our side, Mags.” 

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Connor,” she said. “If it’s okay with Commander Delaney, I can show you what you did wrong.”

“Someone needs to,” Delaney grunted. “Take Agent Carter with you. Maybe if you two knock him about for a bit, he’ll get over not wanting to hit a girl.” Mags winked at Daniel as she dragged O’Keefe off to some mats in a corner. 

And then Min and Samberly got in the ring, which left only Engle and Valdez standing on the floor by the ring. Valdez was on the opposite side from Daniel, so he leaned toward Engle.

“How is your sister doing, Engle?” 

His eyes cut towards Daniel for a bare second before moving back into the ring. “Fine,” he said shortly. Maybe he was nervous about taking on Valdez; Samberly was already down.

“Stop thinking so much, Dr. Samberly,” Delaney chided. “There’s no time to do math in a fight. Stop thinking about reacting and act. What were some of the methods that were good for shorter opponents? Do that.”

“I hope you’ll let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Daniel said, grasping for something else to say. “I have a couple sisters myself.”

“Yeah? Either of them got extra lungs she can have?” Engle’s tone dripped with sarcasm.

Samberly hit the mat again.

Delaney gave a half-aborted little sigh. “We have classes that focus on hand-to-hand, Dr. Samberly. If your duties start bringing you into situations where you need it, you can come back for more training. Let’s go, last pair.” Min goodnaturedly helped Samberly up and even walked him over the water fountain, consoling him a little. 

“It takes a long time to get the hang of it, Samberly. We can work on it more later…”

Engle and Valdez got in the ring. Of all the pairings, they were the most evenly matched, even more so than him and Peggy. Engle was a bit more of a dirty fighter, but Valdez was better at defense. He let Engle get out of breath attacking him, and then he moved. 

When it was over, Daniel made sure to stretch well before following everyone back to the barracks for a shower. Their efforts had stoked everyone’s appetites, and most everyone was toweling off or getting dressed by the time he got there. He didn’t mind having the showers to himself, but it only served to highlight how out of step he was with his men. 

Peggy was waiting for him outside the mess hall. He only had to raise an eyebrow at her.

“Mags was having a hard time getting O’Keefe to talk about you with me right there. I didn’t want to get in the way, but I thought it might look strange if I went and ate a separate table by myself. Apparently the others have gotten the idea that you and I are on the outs.” She was irritated, although it didn’t seem to be directed at him specifically. 

“I know. Good cover, right? If we find out something we need to convey in front of the men, they’ll just think it’s personal.”

Peggy eyed him. “It’s unseemly. We could have come up with something--less _common_.” She stressed the last bit a little too hard. 

“I know you’ve been through that before with Capt--with Steve. People talking, I mean.”

“Yes, but I don’t think I’ll ever get away from that. Unless I just get married and stay home like a good girl.”

“Then I’m guessing the Carters never quarreled somewhere a person would hear,” he said.

“Of course not. I’m not sure I ever saw my parents fight. Why is that funny?”

Daniel hadn’t been able to help the little smile on his face. He didn’t remember much about before Mamae died, but an argument or two had been hard to forget. “I was just thinking about my mother. She had a--passionate personality. Sometimes that meant a fight.”

“Just the thought of watching that makes my skin itch,” Peggy complained. “Didn’t it make you feel wretched?”

“My parents’ arguments might have started with yelling--Mamae would yell anyway--but they usually ended in laughter and compromise. It seemed better than keeping everything bottled up. I’m not entirely comfortable with my employees gossiping about us, either.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s bothering you,” Peggy said uneasily. “It’s at least partially your doing. Everyone can tell when we’re talking about something serious.”

Daniel sighed. “I’m trying not to repeat past mistakes. Do you know why Violet really called off our engagement?”

“You said it was because you were in love with me.” Her voice was careful. 

“That was a big part of it,” he said. “It was also that I didn’t tell her about you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sorry for how things turned out. I am sorry that I hurt her, because by keeping that from her I was keeping a piece of myself from her. It didn’t hurt her any less that it wasn’t malicious. In one way or another, I’ve been keeping myself apart from others from a long time. How many friends did I have at SSR New York?”

Peggy rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure you missed out on much.”

“But I’m still doing it, and I overlooked a security risk. I’m swimming upstream, trying to learn about people I’ve worked with for months. I can’t keep myself apart from everyone if I’m going to be a good chief, or the man you deserve.”

“Sometimes I find it infuriating that you’re so _reasonable_.” Peggy crossed her arms over herself, but a smile tugged at her lips.

“On that note, we should get some lunch before it gets too late.”

* * *

Afternoon saw Instructor Hanson reviewing their observational exercises from the previous evening. His notes on Daniel’s only commented on the imbalance between personal details and those observed on the job. But then, he already knew that was a problem.

Hanson was following that up with some pointers on how to encourage people to talk about themselves when the lights went out. Blackout shades covered the windows, and the classroom was left in complete darkness. 

Daniel was on his feet and extracting himself carefully from his chair before he knew it. He heard Peggy’s voice at his side, much closer than she had been before.

“No emergency lights?” she asked. 

“They’ve been turned off,” Hanson’s calm voice indicated he hadn’t moved. “Commander Delaney dragged you all over this building yesterday practicing your clearing techniques. First team who remembers and finds their way to the building’s electrical cabinet wins.”

“Are we allowed to sabotage the other team?” Engle asked dryly.

“Anything goes as long as there’s no permanent damage,” Hanson replied.

Daniel immediately reached for where he heard Peggy, but she had shuffled away from him. He suspect that she was halfway out the door. 

“Mags?” he called out.

“Got it!” she said. 

“Okay men, we’re on interference. Cover Agent Langdon.” By some silent agreement, they all shuffled into the hallway before the noises started. He heard heels clacking in the hall and then a hearty, but feminine groan.

“I got her, Chief!” Samberly all but crowed. There was a general scuffling noise of feet and bodies moving towards the stairwell, everyone else silent while they felt their way along. 

“Watch where you put your hands, Samberly!” Peggy snapped. “Team Toro, go!”

Daniel shuffled down the hall towards the sound of her voice. “I’ll take the prisoner, Samberly. Why don’t you sneak down behind the others and try to take someone else out?” A hand hit his chest. It was small and limp--Peggy’s--held at the wrist by Samberly. “I got it, go on,” Daniel said. 

Peggy sighed heavily as he threaded her fingers through hers and they heard Samberly move away. “Want to sit?” she asked.

“Yeah.” They slid to the floor, careful in the pitch black darkness. “You didn’t give them specific orders.” 

“It’s too dark,” she said. “It didn’t seem worth giving away anything. Either they will take advantage of the confusion of the situation, or they won’t.” 

“Or they will cause more confusion,” came Hanson’s voice. A small penlight clicked on, pointed at his feet. “That’s a lot of faith in your team, that they all won’t try to be the hero. If you’ll excuse me, I am going to keep an eye on the others. He used the penlight to find the stairwell door, clicking it off before stepping through. Then they were alone in the dark. 

“So I have a couple questions for you, this time,” Peggy said. Her voice was light, but Daniel swallowed carefully. 

“Seems only fair,” he said. 

“Remember when you and Thompson and Dooley were interrogating me about Stark?”

“Of course.” That wasn’t where he expected her to go, although it wasn’t much more comfortable than the questions he had been anticipating. Those had been difficult days. He had slowly, carefully pieced together evidence of Peggy’s treason--even if he didn’t want to--only to have the opportunity to lead the interrogation. He, Dooley and Jack had decided he should play the bad cop to put her off guard. It hadn’t worked. Peggy hadn’t given up anything until she was good and ready. It was hard not to see the parallel here. “It was better after everything was out in the open, wasn’t it?”

“I’m not sure I would have been able to get both Fenhoff and Dottie by myself,” Peggy admitted. “Although there would have only been Dottie to deal with if Dooley had listened to me about Fenhoff. That is beside the point right now. Do you think we’re likely to find ourselves in a similar situation again?”

“I can’t see how. I was mostly angry you hadn’t told me, but we haven’t had that problem--”

“Since I kidnapped Rufus Hunt,” she said. 

“Right. Since then. Although I needle you about it, you are getting better about accepting help from others. Reading in Mags is proof.”

“I supposed like most things, it takes practice,” Peggy said.

“Of course it does. I feel it too; that need for wartime secrecy is hard to shake. We came at that case from different angles, but we both wanted the same thing: to find out what really happened. It’s only our approach that differs, as far as work goes. It’s just everything else I’m not sure of.”

The lights went back on. By the time they had picked themselves up off the floor, the others were coming back up the stairwell. O’Keefe was rubbing a knot forming on his head and everyone else looked a little bit dusty, if no worse for wear. 

“Well?” Peggy asked.

“Valdez got it,” Min reported cheerfully. “He waited until the rest of us were engaged in dragging each other back and then snuck around us.”

“It was worth enough points that they’ve caught back up to us, even though we’re winning the vase thing,” Engle said. “Is it dinner time yet? I need a drink.”


	10. Chapter 10

Dinner found Daniel sitting across from Peggy, the rest of the agents as far from them as the mess hall seating would allow. 

“What a lovely opportunity to discuss clues we don’t have,” Peggy said.

“We should be getting intel from Rose pretty soon,” Daniel offered. “It’s not that bad. I like being able to think without a million interruptions.”

“Your office does have quite the revolving door,” Peggy said. “Anyone been avoiding you?”

“Engle was a little short with me earlier.” He thought about the last couple weeks in the office. “O’Keefe’s not been in for a while, but he hasn’t had any wins to brag about. Valdez doesn’t ask questions once he’s on assignment, unless something really strange happens. I’ve seen Min the most, I guess.”

“Like maybe he’s keeping an eye on you? Looking for intel?”

“It’s always possible, but there were work reasons too.” Daniel sighed. “Going around on this isn’t getting us any farther, not without more information. Was there more intel you wanted from me?”

“I think you’ve been pretty transparent,” Peggy said softly. Something still seemed to be holding her back. He saw her consider her next words carefully. “It has been a very long time since I last gave it any thought. Since I was going to marry Fred and raise him several very polite children.”

Daniel tried not to laugh. He knew Peggy would have at least attempted it. “And now you want more.”

“Some people might call me selfish,” Peggy said. 

Daniel shrugged. “Some people have unreasonable expectations. Where I grew up, not many people could afford to have someone out of work. Valdez’s wife still works. My sister Ines has got her hands busy with her four kids and only two have started school. Fortunately, her husband is doing well enough for them. Tillie wants to go back to work, but it will also make things easier for them. We have time to figure it out.”

“And your sister, does she work in intelligence?” Peggy asked drily. “When I joined SOE, I assumed I was making a choice that would prevent me from having anything like a typical life.”

“What about when you met Steve?” Daniel asked. 

“I don’t think I ever thought of a future with him,” Peggy said thoughtfully. “There was always something more urgent to deal with, another mission to focus on, lives at stake. I wasn’t looking for anything. I fell in love with him when I wasn’t looking. Then he was gone, quick as blinking, and so were a hundred possible futures we may have had. It was too enormous to think on.”

He knew that all too well, the infinite possibilities in every life of those he had known, and lost. Joy and pain, comfort and sorrow, everything they would have had, extinguished. 

They were still sitting in silence when Instructor Hanson reached their table. He had a file folder stuffed full.

“Chief Sousa,” he said, “this just came for you via messenger. I was at HQ when it showed up, told them I’d bring it over for you. I also have everyone’s observation activity from last night, and my report on it. Heavy is the head the wears the crown, eh?”

“It seems that way. Thanks, Hanson.” Inwardly, he winced.

Peggy must have caught something in his expression. “This is good, right?”

“Yes. I was just going to go the Officer’s Club and buy a round or two. I’d probably better read up, instead. The answer could be in here.”

Peggy opened the file and skimmed the cover letter, penned in Rose’s tidy handwriting. “Nothing conclusive, according to Rose. She even notes that everything back at the office is fine and you don’t need to check in. We won’t be making an arrest tonight. Why don’t you boys go to the club, and Mags and I will take this back to our barracks? We’ll start reading it and you can join us when you’re finished.”

His first instinct was just to read, to look at the cold hard facts. And that was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. He nodded.

“Thanks, Peggy. I’ll see you in a bit.”

* * *

“Everything alright, Chief?” Min asked when Daniel arrived at the Officer’s Club. His conversation with Peggy over dinner must have looked as serious as it felt.

“As good as it can be,” Daniel said with a smile he didn’t quite feel. “Wait, that’s not true, none of us has a drink yet.” He enlisted Min to help him carry a pitcher and glasses from the bar to a table in the corner. 

“Where’s Engle?” Daniel asked, as he poured everyone a round.

“On the phone, I think,” Valdez said. 

Across the table, Samberly was eying his glass without drinking. 

“Did you want something else, Dr. Samberly?” Daniel asked. Their socialization had been limited to one dinner with Rose and Peggy, interrupted inevitably by work. He didn’t know what the man drank.

“No, this is fine. I was just wondering if we were going to have another night time exercise tonight.”

“I don’t know,” Daniel confessed. “I worked with them to pick out exercises and topics, but they kept the schedule secret from me.”

“They’re very good at shoving people off balance,” Min said. “Oliver did not like the dark exercise.”

“I didn’t enjoy it either,” O’Keefe put in. “All of us tripping over each other. I caught a corner with my shoulder, too.”

“It happens,” Valdez put in. “It’s very difficult to mentally prepare yourself for anything if you haven’t considered it beforehand.”

“Easy for you to say, when you’re doing so much better than the rest of us,” O’Keefe said sourly. 

“I saw your marks on the observation exercise,” Min said. “You’re not doing that badly. Just stop trying to show off.”

“The team competition is just supposed to be fun,” Daniel said. “Hopefully you’ve all learned something?” 

“Lots,” Dr. Samberly said thoughtfully, his fingers tracing patterns in the condensation on his glass. He didn’t elaborate.

“I like learning all the different approaches,” Min said. “There’s more than one way to search a building.”

“I learned that Andy here is a big time operator where the ladies are concerned,” O’Keefe said. 

“Fill out that T.S. slip and get over it, Connor,” Min said. “Like I said, you didn’t ask.”

“Well, I’m asking now! She pretty? And does she have any friends?”

* * *

Daniel shuffled quietly from the bar to the ladies’ barracks, having bought a fourth round for the men and made his excuses. He hadn’t finished his third, not wanting to pass out before reading at least some of Rose’s dossiers. It had been easy enough to refill glasses for the others, encouraging them to talk, although Engle had never come in. Knowing the favorite school subjects of each of Valdez’ children wouldn’t help him figure out who the mole was, but at least he felt a little closer to everyone. 

He gave a very light knock on the door to warn the women he was there, a soft voice letting him know it was okay to enter. Inside, the women were wearing modest nightclothes and sprawled over a couple of the bunks, surrounded by files.

“How goes it?” he asked.

Peggy shook her head. “Lots of information, but it’s not leading to anything yet. There’s a pile for you,” she gestured at the bunk next to hers. “We’ve already read those.”

“Anything from the men, Mags?” he asked. He felt a little bad at her surrounded by files, her eyes looking tired. 

“Nothing earth-shattering. O’Keefe didn’t really want to talk about you at lunch. Min was impressed with your sparring session. I think you already guessed that Dr. Samberly told the men you two were having a personal disagreement. He and O’Keefe are convinced Peggy will be back in New York by the end of the week. There’s a small wager on it.”

“Oh. How much did you put down?” 

Mags eyed him. “I told them it wasn’t kind or professional to wager on such a thing. I was ignored, of course.”

Daniel settled on the bed, pulling his prosthetic up to lay flat while he bent his other leg. Then he started reading, a companionable silence falling over the room, occasionally broken by an observation.

His eyes were heavy and Mags had fallen asleep on her stack when Peggy finally got ready to evict him. 

“Maybe I should ask Delaney for an office tomorrow, so I have somewhere to keep all this. I don’t want to put you girls out,” he said, wincing a little as he leaned on his prosthetic. He had been wearing it a long time, considering they had started the morning hitting the mats. 

“It’s fine here. I don’t want you staying up all night pouring over it anyway,” Peggy said. “You’re knackered, and when my team wins the competition, I want it to be fair and square. Go get some sleep, Daniel.”

He headed back to his barracks and tried, his brain still bouncing between different pieces of intel. He dozed on and off, numbers and locations and trivia swirling until he finally fell completely asleep in the early morning hours.

* * *

Reveille seemed to arrive almost minutes later. Daniel sat himself up on the edge of the bunk while everyone else seemed to move much too fast around him. He almost stood up and just managed to realize in time: he hadn’t put on his leg on yet. It had been a long time since he had forgotten it, and he didn’t want to start the morning sprawled on the floor in front of his men. 

It seemed too much of a bother to buckle it on for the short walk to the pool, so he took his second crutch. This morning the pool water had gone past refreshing and was now downright chilly, but it wiped away the drowsiness. Daniel let his body go through the motions, arms pulling him through the water as he tried to order his thoughts.

The only potential red flag in Valdez’ file was a twice-yearly trip back to Mexico, apparently to see his grandmother and extended family. Daniel hated that it made him suspicious, but that was how Vega had been turned. Unlike Vega, all of Roberto’s family connections and status had been appropriately disclosed in his intake paperwork and there were no large influxes of money or major purchases. He had a fair amount of savings, but the bank records supported that it had been built carefully, over time. Every description from the observation exercise included the word “steady.” Many of them included detailed information on the man’s family, which was unlikely if he had been hiding anything. There was no real evidence to clear Roberto, but it didn’t fit with Daniel’s sense of the man. With time at Camp Elliot growing short, Daniel had to start narrowing his focus, and Valdez was the best candidate to eliminate.

Engle’s financials were scrupulously tidy. Ten percent of every paycheck went directly into a savings account, his car was paid for and his rent was cheap. He didn’t seem to have a girlfriend or spend money on hobbies. Everything extra seemed to go to his parents, presumably to help support the care of his sister. His parents were in debt, but they were making regular payments. Oliver certainly wasn’t overextending himself in support of them, although he was sending more money now that they were in Arizona. His behavior this week could mean that his sister was excellent leverage, but Jones had the resources to completely wipe out the Engles’ debt. That hadn’t happened. The observations from the others also indicated he was typically a good teammate. The other agents trusted him to watch their backs. 

Min was getting ready to pay off his house, just like he said, and it was even a bit more expensive than Daniel had expected. He had what looked like a family trust. His extended family pooled their money to scrape up the original investment minimum, and it had periods of high returns. That was smart; he should suggest setting up something like that to his sisters. It seemed like an overly complicated way to hide ill-gotten gains, but it was possible. Andy had been a lot less reserved here, at this training, than normal. That was expected, but he could also be compensating for something. The last scrap of information had been a down payment slip at a jewelry store. Daniel had no idea how Rose had found it, and he had to wonder what Peggy had thought of Rose’s notation alongside the ring’s description. _Too big. It would hurt if you punched someone wearing this._

O’Keefe’s file set off the most alarm bells. He had a membership in a clubhouse, and it wasn’t some genteel country club. They couldn’t afford it on their salaries anyway. No, this was a borderline seedy, men-only card club and bar. O’Keefe was paying his membership, even though he could barely afford it, and his rent had been late this month. The club had stymied Rose’s every effort to get information about Connor’s account, which likely meant that he owed money. His behavior had been a little off this week as well. O’Keefe had always been a bit of a knucklehead, but he liked his job, so he genuinely tried and rarely complained. Several comments even noted that he seemed off lately. 

It wasn’t conclusive, not by any means. It was a place to start, and they were supposed to practice interrogation techniques this morning.

Daniel had gotten caught up in his thoughts and before he knew it, the bell for mess was ringing. He hurried out of the pool. 

He was late enough that by the time he reached his barracks, Peggy and Mags were already dressed and walking by on the way to eat. Mags looked tired and barely gave him a second glance, despite the fact that he was shirtless in his swim shorts, a towel around his neck and missing a limb. 

“Daniel!” Peggy called. “Have you seen Dr. Samberly?” 

“Not since he headed out to run with the others,” he said. “Why?” He had been tired enough that the others hadn’t made much of an impression on him this morning. 

“He ditched us early on the run,” Mags said. “Captain Dowden did not appreciate it.”

That didn’t make any sense. Samberly had been working really hard on his physical training. Maybe he’d gotten hurt yesterday during their sparring? He had seemed fine last night at the club, if thoughtful.

Daniel was about to tell them he’d check on it when they heard a loud thump followed by some yelling. He went into the barracks as fast as he could, both women pressed close behind him, crowding him and his crutches.

He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t O’Keefe lying on the wet bathroom floor, wearing only his trousers. Dr. Samberly was on top of him, still in his running sweats, his forearm pressed into O’Keefe’s throat. The rest of the men were nowhere in sight, probably already at breakfast. As they moved towards the men, O’Keefe bucked against Samberly's hold, but didn’t dislodge the taller man.

“I’m not letting you go until you admit what you’ve done,” Samberly said, his voice angry but measured.

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about! I haven’t done anything! Chief! Chief, get this mad man off of me!” 

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing, Samberly?” Daniel demanded, his heart sinking inside. 

Samberly looked pretty pleased with himself. “I found your mole, Chief!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T.S. Slip = Tough Shit Slip. 
> 
> Officer's Club - The recreational areas, including bars, on military bases are often (always?) segregated by rank. The enlisted men have their own. This is to avoid issues dealing with rank in your off hours. Age is a factor as well - enlisted men who are 18 can drink with their fellows on-base in their club, despite the US age for alcohol being 21. I spent a good deal of my adolescence hanging out in a Navy Chief's club, and those guys were in their 40s and older, making for a different environment. Enlisted men's clubs can get rowdy, including fights. The Chiefs club was mostly companionable drinkers.
> 
> As guests outside of the Navy ranks of the base, the SSR personnel could theoretically use any of the recreational areas on base. Having been invited to use the officer's club is both a recognition of their standing in their own organization and a way to suggest what kind of conduct is expected of them while on base. It's pretty typical for guests, even foreign ones, to be invited into these spaces.


	11. Chapter 11

“He’s been acting strange all week. I know it’s him!” Samberly continued. He picked himself up off the floor, pulling O’Keefe with him. O’Keefe wasn’t fighting any more. He hung in Samberly’s grasp limply, looking very confused. 

“Please, someone tell me what he’s talking about?” O’Keefe was practically begging. Daniel wanted to scream and shake Samberly, and ask him what the hell he thought he was doing. Only the desire not to make the situation worse stopped him.

A gentle hand on his arm forced Daniel to notice he was shaking, not just from anxiety but from the chilly morning air on his still damp skin. 

“First things first,” Peggy said. “Daniel, why don’t you get dressed? We’ll wait for you to join us before we let anyone explain themselves.” 

Samberly protested, but a look from Mags hushed him, and the four of them went back out into the bunk room. Daniel collected his things and shut himself in the bathroom. He took a quick rinse in water as hot as he could stand to remove the chlorine from his skin and warm up a bit before towelling off vigorously. Going through the motions of checking his stump, applying deodorant and cologne and powder and dressing first his prosthetic and then himself helped get his swirling thoughts under control. He had wanted to talk to O’Keefe anyway. This was much less stealthy than he had planned, but maybe getting him now, off-balance, would be even better than coming at the issue sideways. When Daniel stepped back out of the bathroom, he felt more composed, if still royally irked with Samberly. 

Mags sat with O’Keefe--now fully dressed--on the bunk between Daniel’s bed and Valdez’. Peggy sat with Samberly on his. Daniel walked over to sit on his own and looked O’Keefe in the face.

“What happened, Connor?” he asked, keeping any inflection from his tone.

“I finished my run last again today,” O’Keefe said. “Dowden made me do some pushups after it. I came in as the others were leaving, and I was just out of the shower when that asshole assaulted me, yelling about treachery. I haven’t any idea what he was talking about. We have a mole?” O’Keefe sounded baffled. Daniel searched his face, not seeing any signs he was lying. 

Mags took O’Keefe’s hand in hers. “You have been acting pretty peculiar this week, Connor. What’s that all about?”

O’Keefe stared at their hands, giving a half-hearted shrug. “I’ve never been the kind to get eager, and only a mitt flopper _likes_ these sort of tests.” His eyes strayed to Samberly, and then flicked to Daniel. “Is that really enough to make you think I might be a mole?”

“We’re looking at everyone who had opportunity,” Daniel said, his tone neutral. 

O’Keefe sort of shrank in on himself. “I didn’t think I knew anything, but I guess I must if I’m a suspect. Would you believe me if I told you I had no reason to betray yo--the SSR?”

Samberly started like he was going to say something, but Daniel, Peggy and Mags shot him almost identical glares, and he stopped. O’Keefe had sounded almost hurt.

“Unfortunately, your membership in a certain club makes me doubt that,” Daniel said, letting his tone grow more sympathetic. 

“Oh, that.” O’Keefe straightened up again, looking him in the eye. “That’s no big deal. Manfredi promised it wouldn’t be.”

“Manfredi?” Peggy asked. “Your card club is owned by Joseph Manfredi?”

“Yeah. He said he knew you too. Look, I haven’t even been there to play lately. I admit, I got a little in over my head on hold ‘em, but I wasn’t a member then. Next thing I know, I’m getting dragged in front of Manfredi and he said he wanted a new friend. I guess one of his guys told him I’m in law enforcement.” O’Keefe licked his lips. “Then he found out I was SSR, and he started apologizing. Said he knew you, Chief Sousa, and you, Carter, and that he didn’t need any more friends in the SSR. But he couldn’t let my debt go either, of course, and I didn’t have the cash for it. So he offered me like a payment plan: said if I paid for a membership for a year instead of the door fees, I’d be free and clear. He made it clear I was to pay the membership and _not_ do any more gambling in there. You can ask him.”

“We will,” Daniel said. “But we appreciate you being honest, and you keeping this to yourself for now.”

“Well, of course,” O’Keefe said. “Anything for the SSR. I hate to think that one of our guys--” He shook his head. “I’ll even forget the good doctor shoving me to the ground for no reason.” 

Samberly gaped at them. “No reason? Honest? Seriously?”

“Actually, Dr. Samberly, I think you should apologize to Connor, so he and Mags can go get some breakfast.” Peggy prompted. He gaped some more, stuttering, until Peggy began to press the heel of her shoe into his toes. 

“Ow! Fine. I apologize, Agent O’Keefe.” Samberly’s tone was grudging.

“Okay,” O’Keefe said. “Look, Chief, you’ve obviously got to keep this locked down tight. But if I can help, please let me know how.”

Daniel nodded. “Right now, please just keep this to yourself. I’ll let you know if something else comes up.”

O’Keefe nodded and stood. He gestured for Mags to proceed ahead of him, and they exited the barracks. 

Daniel waited a few moments before turning to Samberly. “Okay, Samberly. Please tell me exactly why you thought it was necessary to jump a fellow agent, by yourself, without orders.”

“I’m not stupid. You’re keeping track of everyone. Asking a lot of questions, clearly looking for something. I thought about our recent caseload, and Carter’s frustration with being unable to tag that Roxxon guy, and I came to the same conclusion you did. We still have a mole at the SSR.” Samberly lifted his chin.

“Uh-huh. And bypassing for a moment why you decided to act on your own instead of talking to me, why did you think it was O’Keefe?” 

Samberly had the nerve to look a little smug. “When you left the club last night, I followed you. I listened outside for a bit, heard the three of you going over intel. Since you didn’t bring it back here, I ditched the run and went hunting for it. Connor clearly has the best motive, plus he’s stupid and reckless enough to act as a double agent for the thrill of it.”

“You might be letting your history with him cloud your judgement,” Peggy said. “Aloysius, I know you’ve been reading up on interrogation and tells. If you didn’t know Connor, would you have suspected he was lying right now?”

“He’s an agent. He’s trained to lie, like the rest of us,” Samberly said stubbornly. 

“What you’re not trained to do is go out on a limb on your own,” Daniel said. “You might be trying to prove yourself, but this kind of ill-considered independent action is not acceptable.”

“Carter does it all the time!” 

“Yes, and she’ll tell you I’ve called her on the carpet for it as well.” Peggy grimaced and nodded at Daniel’s words. “You’re a smart guy, Samberly, and you’ve been working hard, but no one knows everything. That’s why we work as a team. That’s the point of this entire week! And now if O’Keefe is our mole, you’ve probably ruined our chance to prove it. I ought to send you home right now. Hell, this could be a fireable offense.” 

That seemed to finally make it hit home with him. Samberly slumped, hanging his head. “I knew I would screw this up too,” he said, muttering to himself. “Just like always.”

“Samberly. I’m not going to send you home,” Daniel said. “If you’ve noticed something is wrong, it's possible the mole has as well. I’m not going to do anything to rock the boat and tip him off. But you will follow my orders, or you will be dismissed. Understand?”

“Yes, Chief. I’m sorry. So, you’re not convinced O’Keefe is innocent?”

Daniel stared at Samberly. It took longer than it should have for him to get the hint, but eventually Samberly shrugged. “Okay, okay. Need to know. I don’t need to know. Sorry. I’ll stay in my lane; just tell me what to do.”

“Good. I want you to go and act as normal as you can. If anyone asks why you were late to breakfast, tell them I was reading you the riot act for skipping this morning without leave. You ditched to go call the lab and check on one of your projects, okay? Keep your ears open and if you hear anything suspicious at all, including O’Keefe talking about this, you will talk to me first. Got it?”

“Roger,” Samberly said with a sigh. 

“Go on,” Daniel said. Once the door had closed behind his departure, Daniel threw himself back on the bed to look at the bunk above. Peggy came over to sit next to him on his bed. 

“You’re not going to say ‘I told you so’ about reading in Samberly, are you?” he asked.

Peggy snorted. “Not unless you’re going to lecture me about how following my own plans makes me a bad example.”

“Hadn’t planned on it.”

“Good.” She smiled. “I think you handled it right anyway. Samberly isn’t objective about this. I would swear that Connor was telling the truth.”

“Yeah. I would have expected more protests. A showy defense. He just gave us the facts. Or what is probably the facts. I’ll have Rose run down Manfredi, check and see if that part lines up.”

“At least Manfredi’s relatively reliable,” Peggy said. “It’s easier to get info out of him than any of those plonkers we work for in Washington, anyway. He apparently thinks highly of us, too. Maybe we should go work for him.” 

“What?” Peggy clearly hadn’t been serious, but it wasn’t like her to be absurd.

“Nothing. What are we going to do after you talk to Rose?”

“Peggy, do you want to leave the SSR?” 

“I don’t want to,” she said carefully. “The War Department may have only dissolved last month, but now there’s the Central Intelligence Agency. Whatever they’re doing, now we have competition for resources, and possibly responsibility. More and more of our science projects keep getting packed off to the Atomic Energy Commission. I'm just not sure there will be a place for us much longer. ”

“Sure, but they’re not just going to fire hundreds of trained employees. We might be moved, but we won’t be dismissed.”

“Until they find out about Michael,” Peggy said. “New jobs mean new background checks, and Jack had to get the file from somewhere. Running Jack as a black operative is bad enough. If they find out what Michael supposedly did--if it turns out he did those things? As a foreign national, they’ll dismiss me in heartbeat, and probably deport me on top of it.”

Everything clicked into place. “And you’re afraid if we’re--more entangled--it’ll end my career as well.”

Peggy smiled sadly. Daniel took a moment to weigh it in his mind: his potential career, a cog in the wheel. A vital wheel, but still just a cog, up against a life with Peggy. Resourceful, loyal, courageous, incorrigible Peggy. 

There was no contest. He sat up, his hand going to cup her face. He brought his lips to hers, lips he would happily kiss every day. Their kiss was gentle and slow, with a lot more hesitation than he was used to from Peggy. He kept kissing her until he felt her relax.

“I don’t care,” he murmured against her lips.

“I knew you would say that.”

Daniel didn’t like the sigh in her voice. He pulled back a little to look in her eyes. “I mean it. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Forging a life together, good, bad and everything in between? I want it, and I want it with you. You don’t need to protect me. Save it for the rest of the world.”

“And when we’re both linked to a traitor and out on our duffs?”

“Then we’ll move to England and teach their military a thing or two,” Daniel said. “Or move to Belgium. We can brew beer and help with the rebuilding. Or to Spain, lay on the beach and fish traps for octopus. We’ve got plenty of options that don’t involve mobsters.” 

Peggy gave a hiccuping little laugh. “You say that like fishing for octopus is a reasonable suggestion.”

“Plenty of people do it, but if you want a reasonable suggestion, why don’t we take advantage of the chaos? I meant it before when I said I was tired of drifting along, and I’d rather not get forced into someone else’s chain of command. There has to be Army people who owe you some favors--Phillips came out rather well in the War reorganization, he’s a general now. Stark’s back in the military’s good graces again.”

“Start a new agency inside the new chain of command,” Peggy mused. “If Wild Bill can do it, why can’t we? If the SSR goes, there’s no one to take on the strange stuff, like Zero Matter.” Peggy stood and started to pace. “We still have the Isodyne test film, which makes a compelling argument for a specialist agency. It wouldn’t have to be very big, if we piggyback on Army, CIA and FBI intelligence. It could even be multinational, a way to keep up the spirit of cooperation created during the war.” 

That was far more ambitious than Daniel had been thinking, but if anyone could do it, Peggy could. “And if it doesn’t work out, octopus.” 

Peggy laughed. God, he loved her laugh. He might get to spend the rest of his life listening to it. 

“I think I prefer beer in Belgium,” she said.

“Whatever you want,” he said. 

“In that case, I’d like to move in. This weekend.”

“You got it.” Daniel wondered if Min would be willing to share what he had learned about proposals. His last had definitely not gone to plan. Assuming Min wasn’t the traitor, of course. That brought him back to reality. 

Peggy noticed the shift in his mood. “Meanwhile, we still have to figure out our next move here. We still have two decent suspects.”

“You’re eliminating Valdez too?” he asked.

She nodded. “Too much risk to his family for too little gain. Doesn’t feel right either.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I don’t know about our next move yet. You have any ideas?”

“Well, if it was up to me, I’d lock them in separate rooms and accuse them both of being communist double agents and every other thing I could think of. The guilty party would be happy to cop to only leaking to Jones. But it wouldn’t be fair to the innocent party.” Peggy’s stomach growled. 

“No, it wouldn’t. Maybe we can catch more flies with honey. I’ve got to go call Rose. Go grab some food before the mess closes up, okay?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The SSR-> SHIELD change over is supposed to mimic the OSS-> CIA change over that happened in the years following WWII. While the CIA was created in 1947, the MCU timeline has SHIELD created in 1949. I actually think that SHIELD has a better analogue in the NSA than the CIA. 
> 
> The NSA was created in 1952 and was intended to fill in the gaps left over from military intelligence and CIA actions. It really kicked off the era of a more coherent USA intelligence program that was still lacking, mostly influenced by the growing cold war. Peggy would therefore be a lot more successful creating SHIELD if there's some very big, weird happening that starts around this time. I invite you to speculate in the comments what that might be, but I will point out the weird happenings in Roswell New Mexico occurred in 1947 - a perfect excuse to found SHIELD by 1949.
> 
> "Wild Bill" Donovan was the man who created the OSS, inspired by his British colleagues and their irregular warfare perpetrated by their SOE. He was also one of the figures (among several) who convinced Truman that the CIA was needed to fight rising Soviet influence. While WWII officially ended the US policy of isolationism, there were many that hoped it would return and thought we were better off not continuing to inferring in other countries, so this was a bit of an uphill battle.


	12. Chapter 12

His conversation with Rose took long enough that Daniel didn’t make it to breakfast. When he reported to the classroom for the morning’s lecture, Peggy handed him an apple and a buttered biscuit stuffed with a sausage patty. He wolfed them down gratefully before Hanson got started.

That morning was another lecture from Hanson. This one included tips and tricks for building rapport and the many different approaches for interrogation. 

“The methods of building rapport are easy. People like others who like and who are interested in them, who have similar experiences. They like flattery,” Hanson said. “In practice it’s more difficult than it seems, as it can come off insincere if you’re on the job. The best approach then is to be sincere. It’s your job to figure out how other people tick, and no matter how cowardly or despicable their actions might seem, deep down they’re still people. They have all the same needs and wants you do. So think about learning about them, and not about what you’re trying to accomplish. Seem interested by being interested.”

“Isn’t that compromising?” Min asked. “Sympathize too much, and suddenly you’re on the other side. Or you reveal too much, and your opponent is talking you around.” 

“It’s a risk, but it should be minimal for the situations you’ll be working. We’re not at war anymore. The situations where you have extended contact with enemies of the state will be few and far between. It’s also far from a _fait accompli_. Recognizing commonalities with others doesn’t mean you’ll make the same choice they have, not by a long shot. After all, you’ve already made a choice that few people made, and that’s to keep working in the field. No one’s here for the money.” 

“What are some ways you can tell if another person is pulling this trick on you?” O’Keefe asked, his eyes flickering around at the other agents.

“Ease up, Connor,” Min said. “We give you a hard time, but we like you fine.”

“You mean, how can you tell if your interactions with other people are genuine?” Hanson asked. “Well, that’s the grim part of this business. Everyone has their own motivations, whether they know it or not. It might be to make a friend; it might be to use you for their own purposes. Sometimes you can get a hint of their motivations by the situation or their approach. Often, you can’t really tell until it’s too late. You have to give people the benefit of the doubt when you’re not at work, and assume the worst when you are on a job. If you start thinking that way about your friends and family, it might be time for a new line of work.” 

“I see you agents work hard every day for the safety of others,” Daniel put in. “Not everyone is out for themselves. It’s difficult to see sometimes when you’re down in the trenches, but you can’t forget that. We’re our own best example.” He scanned the faces of his agents, looking for any signs of guilt. Everyone one of them looked thoughtful, only Valdez and Samberly making eye contact. 

They moved on interrogation approaches. Hanson made sure to stress strategies for using the more flexible options in the field, outside of a formal interrogation setting. 

“After all,” he said, “you’re familiar with this material. Some of it you probably use instinctively, but you’ll have more arrows in your quiver if you can master them all. What tells will indicate you should soothe your subject’s anxiety--the fear-down approach?”

“Anything that indicates nervousness,” Samberly answered. “Fidgeting, lack of eye contact, fear of reprisal.” 

“Good. And a fear-up approach?” 

“A blase attitude,” Peggy said. “Someone who is content to call their lawyer and wait instead of talking, or parrots their rights back to you. Someone with a lot to lose or who has clearly demonstrated their weak points.” Peggy’s jaw was tight and Daniel could just see her thinking about Hugh Jones.

“Right. And futility?”

“Anyone without good situational awareness, or who might be limited in knowledge about their allies. No one who might be aware of your resources,” Mags said.

“Good. It’s fine if you have to go through every approach until you find the right one. The only thing limiting you is time.”

That was a reminder Daniel didn’t need.

* * *

At lunch Daniel swung by the command offices to pick up the package messengered down from Rose. She had indeed been collecting money and a card for Engle’s sister, and it was easy to get her to put together another one. When he arrived at the mess, Peggy had herded everyone to the same table. Daniel passed out everyone’s mail. Peggy got a paper from Santa Fe, and Engle’s card was passed to him silently. For Min’s card, Daniel asked for everyone’s attention.

“I know this is last minute. I didn’t get a chance to ask those here for contributions, but I didn’t want your happy news to go unmarked, Andy,” Daniel said. “Maybe you can just pass it around for those here to sign now. Best of luck with your engagement. Rose wanted me to tell you when it’s official, she’ll make you whatever kind of pie you want.” He handed Min a card padded out with his own cash. Each card held half a week’s wages, collected with good will from the office. 

Min blushed when he saw what was inside, but he passed the card around for the others to sign. Engle went very still when he saw his own bills. After a moment, he tucked them away without reading the messages inside the card. 

Daniel accepted quarters and dollars from the others at the table before going to get his own lunch tray. Between his extra laps in the cold pool and his small breakfast, he was starving. He was still working on his second dessert when everyone started drifting out to get ready for the afternoon. Before long, it was just him and Min still at the table.

“Hey Chief, thanks so much for putting this together,” Min said. “I really appreciate everyone’s good wishes, but I can’t accept it.” He slid the card back across the table.

Daniel studied him. “I’m sorry, why not?”

Min shrugged, blushing a little again. “I don’t want to jinx anything. I’ll happily accept it after I get a yes. If I don’t, you can buy lunch for the office or something.”

“Okay. None of us would blame you if you wanted to use it for your proposal. I might be in the position of planning another one myself. It’s not cheap if you want to go to a nice restaurant or something.”

“I’m glad you and Carter are back on even ground, but I’ve got mine covered.”

“Okay then,” Daniel said, taking the envelope. “I know you’re sweating it, I didn’t mean to make it worse.”

“Nah, it’s alright. Just don’t want to count my chickens. Sorry you missed breakfast for no reason.”

“Eh, I had other stuff I was checking on too.”

“Everything alright back at the office?”

“Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure Rose could run it single handedly, if she needed to.”

Min laughed. “While baking two pies and canning tomatoes, I bet. See you back over at the shoot house.”

Daniel watched him leave. He had no idea what to make of Min returning the money. Was he really just that superstitious? Or did he feel too guilty?

* * *

Mags was waiting for him as Daniel found his way over to the hangar. She fell into step beside him. 

“I had a chat with Connor,” she said. “I’m pretty sure he’s innocent now.”

“Yeah? What did he say?”

“He started off asking me if I was one of the ‘inner circle’ now. He apparently thinks you have some sort of personal cabal inside the SSR.”

Daniel grimaced. If he was honest, that wasn’t entirely inaccurate. He did have his circle of agents that he trusted the most. Of course he couldn’t really help it, considering what he had been through with Peggy and Rose. It just wouldn’t be good for morale if that impression persisted. 

“And?”

“I told him he was ridiculous, but he just wanted me to put in a good word for him. He didn’t come out and say it, of course, but he cares a great deal what you think of him. I think he’s pretty gutted that he might be a suspect. Even though logically he knows anyone handling the right material would be one.”

“So you think he’s one of the agents who believes all those rumors about the Isodyne case?” Daniel still had a hard time believing anyone looked up to him for that mess. 

“Absolutely. I think it’s why he’s been so ridiculous this week too. He wants to look good. Then you didn’t even pick him for your team, and things didn’t get off to a good start. So he started pretending he didn’t care.”

Daniel shook his head. “Doesn’t seem effective.”

“It’s too much pressure, I guess,” Mags said. “Like with Dr. Samberly. If you ruin things for yourself, at least you’re still captain of your own destiny.”

“Maybe that’s why they don’t get along,” Daniel said. “The things they have in common are the ones they hate in themselves.”

“They do both try too hard--Connor with his clowning, Aloysius at everything.”

“And now O’Keefe knows there’s something up, and that he’s a suspect, and it’s only going to make things worse.” That was exactly what he didn’t want. His men were good agents, and the innocent ones didn’t deserve to be tainted with the cloud of suspicion.

“I don’t think it’s all that bad. Look, Peggy told me you didn’t want to plant information, and I understand why. But there’s a big difference between that and the direct approach. We just sat through a lecture about this. Lies get you lies in return. Look, I gave them every opportunity to say otherwise, but none of your men said a bad thing about you. They respect you. They’ll understand why you have to ask.”

“Yeah, why not. I’ll just sit down at dinner and ask them who the hell is passing info to Jones. They’ll be tripping over themselves to confess. I should have thought about it sooner.”

“That’s not exactly what I would suggest,” Mags said mildly, ignoring his sarcasm. “We haven’t talked about it much this week, but the interrogation fellows in Hawaii used to make a big deal about location. Hanson did say a few things about using situations to manipulate people into complying. Whoever this mole is, I’m betting they’ve let their guard down a bit. It’s not like Jones cares about what we’re doing up here, so they haven’t had to make reports. We’re doing all these scenarios, so everyone is distracted and off balance already. With the right set up, a more-or-less direct approach would work.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

Mags shrugged. “If you can’t tell who is lying, we still have two more days to sweat them out. They can’t leave. If they try, we’ll know it. We’ve got some talented men, but I don’t think any of them have ever really been on the other side. I bet they’ll crack.”

Daniel rubbed his eyes. It was possible Mags was seeing this situation a lot more clearly than he was. Time was growing increasing limited as well. If they didn’t figure this out this week, he was going to have to take more drastic action.

“Did Peggy put you up to this?”

“No, sir. I think she still wants to beat it out of someone. Call this a happy medium.” She paused for a second. “Connor did say he knew you’d find our rat. I don’t think this morning changed his opinion of you at all.” 

“How did you leave it with him?”

“I told him to stop thinking about who was doing what and just focus. That I knew he was a good agent, and he’d be able to show it if he stopped worrying about you and Samberly and just did the job. He seemed to take it seriously.”

“That’s great, Mags. Okay, we’ll try it your way. If it works out, I’m gonna owe Rose big, for recommending you.”

Mags smiled. “I’m going to tell her you said that.”

Daniel pretended to groan and they were both laughing as they entered the hangar over the shoot house. He saw more than one of his agents glance between him with Mags, and Peggy. It was all he could do not to shake his head.

They spent the next few hours taking turns in the shoot house, using their full teams of four to search for single and multiple imaginary suspects. 

The exercises were more interesting with the four of them to position. Or maybe it was just easier to concentrate with fewer suspects and concerns on his mind. Both he and Samberly were slow, if for different reasons. Samberly was still overthinking everything, stopping to consider every random sound. Daniel would probably put Samberly in the rear if this were a real scenario, although with anyone else Daniel would take the rear. It was a good opportunity to move everyone around and see how they did practicing the different roles: one at the rear, covering the door; another taking point and leapfrogging with a third, and the fourth person providing cover for both. 

It didn’t surprise him that Mags was the best point man, but she was also probably the best at covering the leads. Engle performed competently, and certainly better than the other day. He just wasn’t as aware as he could be, although he moved much quicker than Daniel or Samberly managed. Mags was thorough _and_ quick.

Daniel got permission to watch the other group from the scaffold with Delaney. He needed to observe the strengths and weaknesses of everyone. Delaney reamed Peggy after a couple scenarios for taking point herself.

“Just because you’re leading the team, doesn’t mean you’re always out in front,” he said. “You have plenty of other competent people who can do that, but you won’t be there to lead them if you’re out front and you get shot. Do it again.”

Forced to reconsider her strategy, Peggy rotated everyone through her positions. Everyone performed so well that Daniel started to feel a little nervous about going head-to-head with them. Valdez and Min could do any position, easily. Even O’Keefe had buckled down and was concentrating. Peggy had a little trouble when she was on rear guard, focusing too intently on her people’s movements and not on her surroundings. Daniel made a note not to do that himself.

Once each team had done a few rounds, it was time for the fun part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The names of the approaches for interrogation are from [here a more modern document ](http://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm34-52.pdf)but the approaches themselves [have all been around a long time.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_SjWqF1Xc0&ytbChannel=The%20Best%20Film%20Archives)


	13. Chapter 13

Daniel waited on the benches outside the shoot house. Inside he could hear murmurs and lots of stuff being moved around. Team Toro, along with some helpers, were rearranging the set up inside. Most of the walls were on wheels and the top floor was on rails. It could be shifted forward or backwards, and the stairs moved. For the head-to-head exercises, the defending team got to choose the layout, and a short amount of time to set it up to their satisfaction. The walls were too thick to hear anything but general noise and conversation. 

He was still listening to the noise when Mags and Samberly returned from their break. Mags was carrying the other team’s vase again, and Samberly was carrying four Cokes. He offered one to Daniel. 

He took it, suddenly realizing his thirst. “Thanks, Dr. Samberly.” Daniel nodded at the vase in Mags’ hand. We’ve been a bit busy for hide-and-seek, haven’t we?” He hadn’t given the vases a moment’s thought all day. 

“And Delaney shut down my informant network. Of course, there wasn’t much point in using it once Min figured out what I was doing and started his own,” she said. “Made it too easy for both of us. I had to sweet talk the location out of O’Keefe earlier.” Mags accepted a Coke as well after she sat down.

“When ours turns up again, we should take turns hiding it alone,” Samberly said. “Then they’ll have to guess who hid it before they can start digging for information.” 

They sipped their Cokes. Engle wandered back in, and Samberly offered him the last one. He hesitated, and Samberly waggled it back and forth at him.

“C’mon, it’ll get warm. Drink it now while it’s cold,” Samberly said. 

Engle took it, looking reluctant. “You spent twenty cents of your own free will? Who’d you piss off?” 

“I just thought we could use a little refreshment before we got started again,” Samberly said mildly, not quite looking at Daniel. “We’re a team, right?” 

“I’ll be sure to mention your views on teamwork next time we’re at the club. You can buy your teammates a round.”

“What’s got your britches in a bunch, Oliver?” Mags asked. “Whatever it is, it’s not an excuse for being snotty.”

“Sorry,” he sighed. “They started my sister on a new treatment this week. It doesn’t look like it’s working.” 

Everyone murmured their sympathies. Daniel really did feel sorry for the man. He wondered how Tillie was doing, now late in her pregnancy. He made a mental note to call her when he got home. A few minutes later, Delaney signaled that they were up.

This time, they didn’t get a choice of weapons. They were all issued pistols that looked like toys, thick and molded with few details. Instead of shooting blanks, pulling the trigger produced an intense beam of light.

“There’s a flashlight in the barrel,” Delaney explained. “That way I can track your shots from above. If you know you’re hit, go down. I’ll call it out if you’re tagged and don’t realize it. Range is about ten feet. Don’t hold the trigger down, because the lights get hot. Any questions?”

There weren’t. Delaney left them in the antechamber to go back up on the scaffold above, and signaled everyone inside and outside with a bell. 

When his team entered, the agents on Team Lobo found the staircase had been set to the immediate right of the entryway. Daniel signaled for Mags and Engle to go up and clear the top floor. He gestured to Samberly to watch the doorway that led the to rest of the first floor, and took the stairs and the front door himself. 

It was more tense, pitting themselves against actual people, and not just paper targets and imaginary strategy. The same soundtrack continued to play, and Daniel strained to pick out movement or live noises. After an impossibly long two minutes, Mags and Engle came down the stairs, indicating they had taken one target and the upstairs was clear. Daniel motioned them deeper into the house. 

Past the entryway, there was now a long hall with two rooms to the right and three rooms to the left. If he’d had six people, he would have stationed one at each door as a lookout, and had the last two search room-by-room. He didn’t have six people, so he put Samberly on the left side of the hall and took the right. Then he sent Mags and Engle into the first room on the right. When that was clear, he motioned them into the closest room on the left. 

Engle went first, Mags covering him. They had barely entered the room when Delaney called out.

“Engle down via O’Keefe, but O’Keefe is down as well.” It must have been Mags that got him, Delaney avoiding naming her so as not to give away anything about their approach.

Mags was back in the doorway, and she looked at Daniel. From her hand gestures, he interpreted that all three rooms on that side were connected. Engle should have taken a quick peek and reported that information instead of charging in. Mags had only followed him for cover because it was her job. 

Daniel hesitated. If this was real life, with the tricky layout and one of his men down, he would retreat. Three people was enough to watch the exits and get a wounded man some help; it was not enough to continue searching safely. Since it was only an exercise, they wouldn’t make any further points if they withdrew now. 

After a moment, he waved Samberly in through the middle door, and Mags to go in as planned. Then they would take the room from two directions. Meanwhile, he inched his own way down the hall to more effectively cover the doorways of the unsearched rooms. It reminded him eerily of the nightmare he had over and over. This time, there was no one covering him. He shook off that thought, creeping along the hall. He didn’t want to get too close...

A flash of light erupted from the third room on the left, catching him in his chest. Damn it, he had moved too far forward. He hadn’t anticipated anyone would conceal themselves that close to the doorway. Peggy came walking out as he slid himself carefully to the floor to play dead. She pretended to search him. 

“Oh, I shouldn’t have shot this one,” she murmured very softly. “Such a waste of a perfectly handsome man. I bet he would have been an excellent roommate.”

“I bet you say that to all the corpses,” he said, handing her his light gun. She smothered her chuckle and headed in behind Samberly. He watched her go, both annoyed at his mistake and appreciative of her exit. She vanished through the doorway. 

He listened carefully, but it was impossible to hear what happened from the hall. He could picture it well enough--Peggy and another agent coming at his last two people from both sides. Lights flickered and flashed through the doorways.

“Samberly down via Valdez. Langdon scores on the extremities of Valdez. Carter takes Langdon from behind. Agent Carter holds the house,” Delaney called. “Team Toro wins this round. I hope that’s a reminder for everyone: the home team always has an advantage. Take a break while Team Lobo debriefs and resets.”

Delaney didn’t hesitate to lay into Engle. “Agent Engle, why didn’t you signal that room was connected to the next? Your leader cannot effectively command you when you withhold information.”

Engle rolled his eyes. “I was busy trying to position myself so I wouldn’t be in the line of fire.”

“Oh, you mean like if you were back in the hall? It didn’t work out. I’m sure if this was real, Agent Sousa would have dragged you out at risk to your other team members and established a perimeter.” 

Daniel nodded. “Still, we probably could have done it if I hadn’t gotten shot. That was my miscalculation.”

“Maybe,” Delaney said. “Agent Samberly didn’t take his shot when he had it, either.”

Samberly hung his head. “Yeah. I froze again. I was thinking of all the different scenarios, and then it was over. It keeps happening.”

“It just means you’re not a front line kind of guy,” Daniel said, clapping his hand on the man’s shoulder. “You’re still a member of the team. In a real situation, we’ll be able to use your strengths to our advantage. Help us plan for the next round.”

“At least you did a good job clearing the top floor first, taking out Agent Min,” Delaney said. “What’s the plan for your defensive strategy?”

“I think we should leave it mostly like this,” Mags offered. “Let them believe we’re copying their successful technique. Change a few small details just to confuse them, let our approach differ.” 

“It’s hard to pick a better layout,” Daniel said. “It would be different if we had fewer rooms to play with.” 

“They went straight for us,” Samberly offered. “In real life, they wouldn’t have known how many of us there were. If we’d had one more person, they would have covered you in the hall, Chief.” 

Daniel nodded. “So what should we do differently?”

“Not assume anything. Take an unexpected action,” Samberly said. “Something more… indirect.”

“It could work,” Daniel said, smiling. It could also provide an opportunity to try things Mags’ way.

* * *

Daniel was standing at the back door of the shoot house when the bell rang. All the defensive players had to start on the inside, but at the signal he went out the back and hurried around the house as fast as he could. He slowed when he reached the staging area outside. He could hear footsteps on the stairs inside, so he didn’t waste any time. 

Valdez was watching the doorway and the stairs, just as Daniel had been not long ago. Somehow Daniel had known Peggy would choose him to anchor the group. His gun was pointed into the house, so while he saw Daniel coming, he didn’t get his weapon around in time. Light from Daniel’s muzzle flashed twice against Valdez’ dark suit, and then Daniel shuffled sideways, out of sight of the door. 

He listened as two sets of feet came the rest of the way down the stairs and stepped carefully over where Valdez now lay slumped on the floor. 

“What happened?” Peggy’s voice hissed.

Daniel could barely hear O’Keefe’s reply. “Someone’s outside. Couldn’t see who it was behind Roberto. Someone on the taller side.” 

There was a long moment of silence while Peggy considered her options. He didn’t hear any verbal commands, only footsteps starting up again, growing muffled. He waited until they grew louder again, moving back into the hall, and then softer as they moved out of it. Then he counted to ten and stepped back into the doorway.

Min was standing there guarding the exit, just like Daniel knew he would be. If he was Peggy, he wouldn’t let O’Keefe watch his back either.

“Freeze. You are surrounded,” Daniel said, nodding his head at the hall behind Min. Min turned to look, only to feel Mags’ muzzle press against his neck. Her arm went around his chest.

“Walk backwards. Quickly,” she murmured into his ear. Min went silently and Daniel followed, grabbing Min’s faux firearm. Mags half-dragged Andy into the first room on the left--the one Peggy and O’Keefe had already searched, following the same search pattern his team had used. 

They had rearranged the walls so this room had a closet in it. The door was standing open, and Mags directed Min into it, and then stepped out of the way. She moved to take up a position behind a couch to watch the closet and the doorway to the room. Daniel followed Min into the closet, almost but not quite pulling the door shut behind them. 

It was hard enough to see in the dim lighting of the hangar, but inside the closet was really dark. Daniel blinked, trying to get his eyes to adjust while he started speaking softly.

“If they find us, I will take you out with me. There’s no getting out of here free and clear, so you might as well answer my questions. If we get out of here, I promise you’ll be treated fairly. How many of you are in the house?”

“Three plus myself,” Min said.

“What is your mission?” Daniel continued.

“I dunno what you want here, Chief. Should I make something up?” Min’s voice was light, but Daniel could hear an edge to it. He could almost make out his features.

“Just tell me the truth,” Daniel said.

“Uh… the mission is to search and take the house.” 

“Is this the first time you’ve betrayed your team?”

“Uh… yes? I mean, I wouldn’t consider this a betrayal exactly. This is a game.” Min sounded confused. 

“O’Keefe and Engle have eliminated each other.” Delaney’s voice was distant, but still audible.

“I’m not kidding right now, Andy,” Daniel said. “Have you ever provided privileged information to anyone outside the SSR?”

“What? No. I mean, I told Jenny what kind of work we do, but that was only because her government is so corrupt. I know we’re not supposed to talk about the strange bits, but I couldn't let her think I was like that.” 

“Like an agent who would sell information to line their own pockets?”

“Exactly. I wouldn’t. And I didn’t give her details, either. I swear it.” Min sounded confused but not upset. Not defensive.

Daniel couldn’t tell if he believed him or only wanted to. “Are you sure? I know you’ve got big plans. No one could blame you if it was just one time. Just to make a quick buck, get that house paid off. If someone used that against you to drag you in deeper, that wouldn’t be your fault.”

Min was gaping at him now. “Of course it would. It would be completely my fault. But you can’t absolve me of guilt I’m not carrying.” 

“Dr. Samberly got you, Agent Carter. This scenario is over.” Delaney sounded really happy about that. From the curses that followed, Peggy was not.

“What are you even doing, hiding under the bed?” Daniel heard her demand of Samberly. 

“Choosing a tactical position that suits my delayed reaction time,” he said smugly. 

Daniel hesitated before pushing the door of the closet open open. “I believe you, Andy.” 

Min squinted at him. “Good. I won’t be getting engaged if I get thrown in jail.” He turned to go, and then paused. “Chief… this must be bad, whatever is going on. I don’t expect you to tell me, and I’ll keep this to myself, but let me know if I can help, okay?”

Daniel sighed. Everyone wanted to help. He just wasn’t sure if it was for him or themselves.


	14. Chapter 14

At supper, everyone was rather boisterous from the afternoon’s exercise. 

"Both of us shot by women, Chief!" O'Keefe said. "Maybe we should quit and leave it to them."

Mags snorted. "What would we do without you fellows around to entertain us, and do the really dirty work?"

"You'll just have to learn, Connor," Peggy said, a wicked smile on her face. "There's a time and a place for exposing yourself." 

Connor's mouth dropped open at her double entendre. "I'm not going to touch that one."

"See, you can learn!" Mags teased. 

Valdez complimented Samberly for finishing the last round.

“Thanks! Actually, my tactical position was Chief Sousa’s idea.” 

Peggy glared at Daniel across the table. “Running around to cover the front door is cheating,” she said. “You couldn’t have known the place wasn’t surrounded.”

“You’re just mad you didn’t think of it. And you couldn’t have known we only had four on our attack team,” Daniel pointed out. “It was risky for you to abandon your position to get behind Mags after you shot me. We’ll probably both get docked the same amount of points.”

“I’m not sure what the lesson was, if the home team always has the advantage?” Valdez asked.

“Numbers,” Peggy said. “You need a large force to take any well defended position. And then it’s still a costly battle.”

“It is supposed to remind us how difficult it is,” Daniel added. “In case hunting a paper target made it seem too easy. It’s one thing to pursue a suspect, it’s another to storm their fall-back position.”

“And a wary target is the most difficult of all,” Peggy finished. 

Engle was the last person to join them at the table. 

“Couldn’t wait to get on the phone, huh?” O’Keefe asked him. “How are things down in Arizona today?”

“Alice is starting to improve,” Engle said, smiling. “It looks like the new treatment finally kicked in.” 

“That’s great, Oliver!” O’Keefe said. “Boy, it sure is lucky that friend of yours got her in with that doctor, huh?”

Daniel kept chewing, but he couldn’t taste the beef stew any longer. He struggled to remember--when had Engle’s family moved Alice down to Arizona? It was after Masters’ disappearance, but before their first failed attempt to pick up Jones. He hadn’t given it much thought. He had assumed their current mole was recruited at the same time as all the others, by Vernon Masters. It would have been much harder for Jones to recruit someone after the Isodyne mess went down--unless that someone was desperate enough. 

Daniel didn’t want to think about what he’d do, if it was one of his sisters that was sick. It might even seem like a good trade-off, considering Jones was merely just a link in a chain. Jones had been in collusion with the other Council of Nine members, but he hadn’t been responsible for any of the really nasty things that had happened. He wasn’t so much dangerous as rich and greedy. 

Now that Daniel knew who it was, it made sense. Engle certainly had a lot less to lose personally than Valdez or Min. Mags had been rather persuasive earlier, but Daniel had a sense the head-on approach wouldn’t be ideal for Engle. She did have a point about the training being a valuable way to keep everyone off guard. Their next exercise was a near-perfect set up. Daniel tried to keep eating, pretending he wasn’t interested in the conversation continuing around him. 

“We should celebrate,” O’Keefe was saying. “I bet we can drink that Officer’s Club dry.”

Peggy snorted. “And get kicked off the base.”

“It’s closed tonight anyway,” Dr. Samberly put in. “I asked Commander Delaney if he was going to join us, but he said maybe tomorrow instead.”

“It’s too soon anyway,” Engle said. “It’s only the first good sign we’ve had in awhile.”

“What are we going to do, then? Just go to bed early?” O’Keefe complained. 

“It’s not the worst idea,” Valdez said. “There might be a reason it’s closed.”

“How about a happy medium? I’ve got some cards,” Min offered. “I bet they’ll let us hang out in here. We can wager each other drinks for tomorrow night.”

“Sounds like fun,” Mags said. “Peggy?” 

Peggy glanced at Daniel. He shrugged. “Okay,” she said. “I just don’t want to hear any complaining from you boys when we run the table.”

A lively discussion started then, and Daniel took the opportunity to slip out. He knew why the club was closed, and he needed to have a word with Delaney before it was too late.

* * *

Peggy met Daniel on his way back to the barracks. 

“Card game break up already?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. I lost a couple hands, pretended to be a bad sport, and excused myself. Did you get anything from Andy in the closet?”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Probably not. It’s hard to tell what others are doing in the house.” 

“All I got was a flat out denial. I think he was off balance enough that I would have caught him lying. And I’m sure you heard O’Keefe at dinner.”

“Yes. I just went over Engle’s file again to be sure. Daniel, his sister didn’t get moved to Arizona until after Jack got shot.”

“Yeah. He must have been recruited after we got Whitney.”

“You know what that means,” she said.

“Yeah, we had the wrong timeline, and that’s why he didn’t stick out.”

“Well, yes, but that’s not what I meant. You didn’t know his sister was sick when you hired him. You didn’t overlook anything. It’s not your fault.”

“Plus that wouldn’t have been a reason to screen him from employment,” Daniel said tiredly. “Everyone gets sick eventually.” While he could feel better about having hired Engle in the first place, it had still taken him a long time to notice something was wrong. 

“I know,” she said, as if in answer to his unspoken thoughts. “It’s still a terrible spot to be in. What have you been arranging to get us out of it?”

“A little one-on-one conversation, perhaps under mild duress. Best if we can get this wrapped up before we leave for home.” 

“Mmm-hmm. I don’t like the thought of you alone with him. It’s like you’re still trying to shoulder this burden alone. You know it’s not necessary.”

“It’s not that. You know I’d have to question him anyway, and you know it works better one-on-one. Plus the next exercise is going to provide an extra tactical advantage.”

“That sounds familiar. Are you sure it’s not just an excuse to do what you want to do anyway?”

He shook his head. “I think it’s the best option. It’s pretty low risk, anyway. If it doesn’t work, we can try things your way.”

“I’ll remember you said that. If we’re being paired off for our next exercise, who am I with?”

“I put you with Min. You’ll have time to feel him out yourself.”

“Good. If I ended up with Connor, we might not both get out alive.” She glanced around. “I didn’t like the news out of Santa Fe.”

Peggy was having the Santa Fe New Mexican shipped to her. It was just one way for her to monitor Jack without him knowing. “Really? What happened?” 

“Two cars mysteriously blew up. No fatalities.”

Daniel winced. “Maybe Jack needed a distraction? When was your last letter from him?”

“I hope that’s all it was. I got a suspect list in the package Rose sent down. So it’s only been a few days since he’s written. I still don’t like it, between that and the hotel fire. If we don’t hear from him before Monday, I’m going to want to go down there.”

Daniel didn’t really have wherewithal to think about what Jack might be up to right now. There were probably DBs involved. 

“Okay,” he said. “Right now, I’m going to try and get some sleep.” 

“Good idea,” she said. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Goodnight.”

* * *

It was just before two A.M. when a half platoon of uniformed men entered their barracks and started pulling them from their beds. They ducked wild swings as the agents came up out of their sleep. Once they were awake, they were ordered to get on their shoes. One of his shoes was on his prosthetic, so Daniel belted that on as well. They wouldn’t let him have a crutch, so he ended up walking with one hand on Valdez’s shoulder in front of him. They were marched in a line across the base, still in their nightclothes. There were murmured complaints as they went. 

“I’d rather have a night lecture,” O’Keefe yawned. “Whose idea was it to stay up and play cards?”

“Hey, if we went with your idea we might still have been awake,” Min said. 

“But then we'd be feeling alright. Sounds better to me,” O’Keefe said. 

They were all squinting when they were marched from the semi-dark outside into a well-lit building. Daniel caught a glimpse of Peggy and Mags there too, in their robes. 

The soldiers shuffled them along into a block of concrete cells. The agents broken up into pairs and directed into the cells. Valdez and O’Keefe went into one, Mags and Samberly into another, barred doors swinging closed behind them. That was all Daniel saw before he stumbled into one of the men escorting them. The unfamiliar ground was difficult to manage tired and without a crutch. His escort helped Daniel right himself and then stepped out of the way to wave Engle into the cell. The door swung closed.

Delaney appeared, standing in the hall outside the cells. “Welcome to the brig,” he said. “You have twenty four hours in which to attempt your escape.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DB's= dead bodies. If you read Jack Thompson is Dead*, you know if Daniel's right about that.


	15. Chapter 15

“Well, sort of,” Delaney continued. “The clock on the wall will count down, but it’s compressed. Each ‘hour’ will be twenty minutes long. Still, if you don’t want to spend eight hours in these cells, you’ll need to figure out how to get out. You’re competing against the other teams. I suggest you keep your voices down and your strategies to yourselves. Good luck.”

“You guys are sadists,” O’Keefe said. 

“Hey, they’re up in the middle of the night too,” Valdez said. Then he said something much quieter that Daniel couldn’t hear. The wall facing the cells was lined with some sort of sound absorbing material. Any soft conversation was difficult to hear. 

There were two cots in each cell, and Daniel lowered himself carefully onto one of them. He watched Engle examine the bars, the door, and the lock. They were solid. This was the base’s real brig, not something constructed for training. 

Engle came to the same conclusion because he sighed and sat down on the cot across the cell from Daniel’s. “Surprised they let you keep that,” Engle said, nodding at Daniel’s prosthetic.

“You would be surprised how squeamish people are about touching it,” Daniel said. “Like they think it’s catching.” 

“It’s wood,” Engle said. “Do you think we could carve ourselves a key?”

“With what? You got a knife in your pj’s? Not to mention it’s harder to get a replacement than you might think. Not for an exercise.”

“Maybe we could get a guard in here, choke him out with the belt?”

“We’re not restrained,” Daniel pointed out. “If we can get a guard in here in the first place, I don’t think you’d need the belt.”

“I guess. So how do we get a guard in here? Chief, you got anything against playing sick?”

“Not at all, but we should consider the point of the exercise. We need to talk to the guards.”

“Right. Build rapport. Find a weak spot. Yada yada yada." Engle yawned. “If we were in here for a whole day, at least we’d have time to sleep a bit more.” 

The first guard appeared a minute later. He was tall and thin and appeared to ignore the soft entries from the other cells.

“Hey pal, got a smoke?” Engle asked. The guard ignored him too, examining them inside the cell, and then moved on. 

“Better settle in. This could take awhile,” Daniel said. He doffed his prosthetic and set it aside. Engle eyed him warily as Daniel settled himself better on the cot, back against the wall, and began tapping the sides and end of his thigh. It was tingling unpleasantly from anxiety and lack of sleep.

“It doesn’t bring back unpleasant memories, does it?” Daniel asked after a moment.

“What does?”

“The cell. Weren’t you captured in action?”

“Oh, yeah. It was a very brief stay. Still classified last I heard. I’m surprised you know about it.”

Daniel let a little smile form on his face.

Engle scratched idly at the back of his neck. “I--uh--you said you had two sisters? Younger or older?”

“They’re older.”

“I guess being the only boy, you still got your fair share of responsibility?”

“We all looked out for each other. We all had jobs by high school anyway. I was captain of the baseball team, and head lifeguard for awhile.”

“Did they fuss over your---uh--when you came back?”

“Probably a bit more than I thought was necessary, but they were both already married by then. Ines already had three kids, and Tillie was working. Travel was still restricted too, so I never had to run them off.” 

Engle snorted. “Yeah, I can tell when Alice gets tired of me because she starts hinting about how I should go find a nice girl to dote on.”

“Any luck?”

“Not that meets her standards, no.”

Daniel smiled. “I’m glad she’s doing better. If you need time off to go see her, I’m sure we can work something out.”

Engle shifted in his seat. “Oh, I don’t know if that’s necessary. We’ve been writing lots of letters. I know we’re still understaffed. I’d hate for the other guys to have to cover for me.”

Daniel hummed. “We could work around it, though. Your parents must have had their hands full. It couldn't have been easy to move and get themselves and your sister settled. If you need to spell them for a bit, we’d manage.” 

“I appreciate the offer, Chief. I’ll speak to them about it. I appreciated the card, too. You fellows didn’t have to do that.”

Daniel shrugged and tried to catch Engle’s eye. “What are teammates for?” 

Oliver didn’t look at him. Daniel yawned, letting his words hang there. The lack of a response clinched it. It pained him to admit, but sometimes he understood Peggy’s point of view--Daniel was ready for this to be over. It wouldn’t do to rush it, though. The facts all lined up, but he didn't have any solid evidence Engle was the mole. A confession would simplify things, and cooperation could open up new ways to deal with Jones. 

They sat there in pregnant silence. It gave Daniel some time to order his thoughts. Peggy was right; he couldn’t have predicted Engle would be vulnerable. He wasn’t sure it was possible for him to have caught onto the problem earlier, either. It was one thing to try and know his men better. It was another thing to be always on guard, waiting for another betrayal. Constant paranoia was more likely to cause more problems than it solved. Trust was a two-way street, and he wouldn't trust a leader who didn't trust him. Daniel suppressed a sigh. He hoped this wouldn’t undermine the benefits of this training week for everyone else as well. He'd just have to take some solace in the fact that he knew how to move forward.

Eventually, another guard appeared, stopping in front of some cells and skipping others. This one was a bit untidy in his appearance, and he provided Engle a cigarette when he asked. Daniel declined to join them.

“Thanks, pal,” Engle said. “How’d you catch the early morning shift?”

The guard grunted. “Pissed off my C.O. Don’t ask me how. Everything I do seems to get me in hot water.”

“I know the feeling. You guys had to lock me up with mine.” Engle said. Daniel snorted, but he didn’t say anything. “Still, quiet on the night shift. Better than K.P., right? If I never peel another potato, it’ll be too soon.”

“True enough. Speaking of KP, I don’t wanna be doing that later. I have to move on.”

“Yeah, you bet. Thanks for the smoke.” 

“Nice,” Daniel said after guard had departed. “You get any personal angle on him?”

Engle shook his head. “It’s hard when they’re in uniform. I’ll fish when he comes back. Unless you wanna do it?” 

This could be his opening. 

“No, I like you setting us slightly against each other. In a real situation, it would give the impression they have the upper hand. You’re pretty good at this, you know?”

“At sitting in a jail cell? Why, thanks.”

“No, at getting people to like you. That’s why I arranged the teams the way I did. I was hoping you and Mags would be good examples for Samberly.”

“And here I thought you were just trying to give Connor a hard time.”

“Nah. If I wanted to that, I would have put Samberly on their team instead of Valdez.” They traded smirks. 

“Yep, that would have done it. Connor’s been out of sorts enough this week anyway. I've been too worried about Alice to worry about him. You have any idea what that's about?”

“I’m afraid I have a suspicion,” Daniel said gravely. “Maybe it’s something you can help me confirm.” 

Engle’s posture became very tense. “A suspicion? About Connor?” 

“Yes. You’re a smart guy, Engle. Over and over Hugh Jones has slipped through our grasp. It can’t be a coincidence. Someone is slipping him information.”

“That’s possible,” Engle said slowly. “But why do you think it’s Connor?”

“All the usual reasons. You know what that looks like. He seems unhappy in his job. He’s the most volatile of our bunch, except maybe for Samberly. But he didn’t have access to the correct information. O'Keefe’s in debt. He’s been goofing off a lot this week. He's playing into his natural tendency to take the easy way out, probably trying to give the impression he’s not smart enough to pull it off.”

Engle winced. “That’s not proof, Chief. I understand why you'd suspect him, but that's not enough to arrest him.”

“That’s why I want your help,” Daniel said. “I trust you, but so does O’Keefe. You two are friends. I could let him rot in a cell like this one, but it doesn't do much good without evidence. How would you get him to confess?”

“As his friend? I guess I’d take him out for drinks. Tell him a sad story about how much Alice’s treatment is costing. He knows most of it already. I’d make it more dire, tell him I’ve gotten into debt and hint around that I’d be willing to do anything to fix it. Try to get him to turn me too.”

“Right. See, you are good at this. He’d believe you, because he knows you’re willing to do anything for Alice,” Daniel said mildly. 

“So--uh--what would happen if he confessed?” Engle asked.

Daniel sighed. “I don’t know. It would depend on him. He’s one of my men, and I want to be reasonable, but it doesn’t seem like he has a good reason for betraying us. If he was willing to write a full confession, and then use his connection to Jones to help us, that would be one thing. If it was just out of disgruntlement, because money was offered, and he couldn’t help…” He let his voice trail off.

A look of dawning realization spread over Engle’s face. He groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. “Oh God,” he whispered. “You know?”

“Know what, Oliver?” Daniel asked, tone neutral.

“I see what you’re doing. This is the opposite of what I suggested. Instead of being the friend who needs a hand, you’re the nice guy offering to get me out of trouble--indirectly. I played right into it.” 

"Why would I do that?" Daniel asked. 

"Because I'm the one slipping information to Hugh Jones," he whispered. “When Jones first approached me, I told him I wasn’t interested. I saw how Vega and Blackwell went down. And then he told me he knew a doctor that could help Alice. That they’d not only accept her as a patient, but at a discounted rate without a paper trail. It doesn’t matter anymore since she’s already in. I’ll give you everything.” 

“I appreciate that, Engle, I really do.” Daniel said. “I'll see what I can do for you. Let me get you some paper, and you can start on your confession.” He strapped his prosthetic back on and pulled a key from inside his shorts. It was a little awkward to reach through the bars and around to unlock the door one-handed, but he managed. 

Engle gaped at him when the door swung open. “When you stumbled on the way in…?”

Daniel winked at him, carefully stepping outside of the door before locking it behind him. He was greeted with jeering commentary from the other cells. It cheered him a little. He gave Peggy a thumbs up on the way and went searching for Delaney.


	16. Chapter 16

Delaney--and materials for writing a confession--were nearby. Daniel gave him directions regarding Engle. It was still dark outside, and with Captain Dowden still sleeping, he had time to shower and get dressed. Daniel was waiting for the Captain at his office door when he arrived.

Having Engle’s confession made that discussion a little more straightforward. The captain wasn't happy to be holding a prisoner for them without notice. 

“I’m starting to regret hosting these training sessions,” the captain said. “You spooks never do one thing at a time when you can do three.”

“It seemed like a rare opportunity to control as many variables as possible,” Daniel said. “For what it’s worth, I think the training has been successful at its original purpose as well. I'd be happy to recommend it to the other field offices, and send some more of my agents down.”

“At least there’s that. You can confer with Commander Delaney about scores and what to do with the teams for the rest of your time here. I’ll sign off on whatever you two come up with. And we’ll keep your traitor in the brig until you are ready to leave.”

“It’s much appreciated, Captain.” 

Daniel was finishing his breakfast when Samberly wandered into the mess, still in his pajamas. He sat across the table from Daniel. His tray was piled high with pancakes and bacon and fruit like he had been locked up for weeks, rather than a few hours.

“You and Mags made it out, huh? How’d you manage it?”

“We pulled the stays out of her undergarments and rigged ourselves lock picks,” Samberly replied. “It only took so long because we had to time the guards’ movements. Of course now I owe her money for a replacement garment, as it was my idea. I guess since you left Engle in the brig, that means--?”

“Samberly,” Daniel snapped. “When and if it’s appropriate, I will tell you.”

“Right. Of course. Sorry. I’m sorry about yesterday morning, too.”

Daniel sighed. “I think it worked out. I know you wanted to help, but hopefully you’ve learned the importance of following your C.O.’s lead.”

“Yes. And, um, in keeping my temper. I wanted to confront O’Keefe because he’s such a jerk, and I was so angry that he would possibly betray us. How do you keep yours under wraps when it matters?”

“I don’t always, obviously. But it helps to focus on the goal and the best way to get it accomplished.” He thought about it a little bit more. “And it's like Hanson said: it helps to have a little compassion. Not enough to cloud your judgement, but if you can understand why people do the things they do, it gets easier.”

“Yeah, Mags had some observations about O’Keefe along those lines. I guess I’ll add it to the list of things I need to work on.” Samberly didn’t sound all that confident.

“My list got longer this week too.”

Samberly was smiling when he tucked into his breakfast.

* * *

Daniel spent most of the rest of the morning talking on the phone with Rose, making plans, or chatting with Delaney. No one else made it out of the brig in the time limit. Delaney released everyone with enough time to clean up before lunch. Afterward, they all met in the classroom again. Delaney and Hanson were both there.

“So what is the lesson of this morning’s exercise?” Delaney asked.

“Don’t let yourself get locked up if you can help it,” Min guessed.

“Get or make a key, or give up hope,” O’Keefe said.

“It is possible to talk your way out,” Delaney said. “It tends to take longer than we gave you for the exercise. The lesson here is that access and environment are just as important as your approach.”

“And it was good practice,” Hanson said. “Chief Sousa can attest to that. Chief?”

Daniel stood up to address his remaining agents. “It should go without saying what I am about to tell you all doesn’t leave the room. It doesn’t feel right not to tell you all what happened, since many of you were involved in one way or another.” He looked around at the faces of each agent, all somber. “Agent Engle has confessed to sharing privileged information with the suspect Hugh Jones. He has aided and abetted Jones’ efforts to escape justice. I apologize for the disturbance this has caused to your training. Team scores will be calculated only up to, and not including this morning’s exercise. Individual scores will still be calculated including that exercise and tomorrow’s review exam.” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about the team scores, Chief,” O’Keefe said. “But can you tell us how you convinced him to confess? For educational purposes?” 

If Connor had sounded gleeful or smug or satisfied, Daniel wouldn’t have gone into the details. Instead he sounded merely interested. Maybe even a little awed. Still, they didn't need to know all the details to discuss the merits of his approach. Instead he talked about motivation, guilt. Hanson appreciated how he had faked suspicion of O'Keefe.

"An excellent use of establishing your identity. Set up an unflattering situation and let them correct it," Hanson said.

Min confirmed that yanking him into the closet of the shoot house had done it’s job and shoved him off balance. He seemed unconcerned that he had been a suspect, albeit temporarily. Hanson used Daniel’s methods as a jumping off point for a productive discussion. He reviewed everything they had discussed that week. Then everyone debated the pros and cons of the various interrogation approaches. 

On the way to dinner, Daniel stopped off at the barracks to care for his leg. He wasn’t surprised to find O’Keefe waiting outside the door when he was finished.

“Chief. I don’t--I feel like should apologize, for my behavior this week. Dr. Samberly's suspicion was bad enough. But I guess Engle believed you would suspect me too--and I thought he was my friend. I don’t think it would have happened like that if I wasn't acting up.”

“Maybe not,” Daniel said. “Everyone makes mistakes, so at least it was here, at training. You are a competent agent, Connor, and you did as I asked even after Samberly assaulted you without cause. We’re straight. I think you owe your team captain an apology instead."

“I already apologized to Agent Carter,” he said quickly. “She accepted it just as kindly as you. She’s a classy dame, Chief. I hope things work out for you.”

* * *

They all went to the Officer’s Club after dinner. Mags swore she was going to make Daniel pay for her to drink everyone under the table. She had a point; it wasn’t fair that she had missed out on the previous social night to read intelligence. Daniel made a mental note to do something with her and Rose and Peggy. Something they'd enjoy, like going to the firing range together. He'd buy the drinks afterward.

That wasn't going to get him out of buying the first round now. Valdez offered to help him carry stuff back to the table. 

“I cannot believe I didn’t catch on to what was happening,” Valdez said. “Some skills of observation I have.” The man looked genuinely rueful.

“It's not like there wasn’t enough going on, between training and your family. Besides, it’s my job to worry about those things. Not yours.”

“Still. You were being so friendly. I thought it was the change of scenery.”

“It wasn’t just about work, Roberto.”

“I hope not, Chief. It’s a good look on you. Maybe you and Agent Carter can come to my child’s baptism, eh? There’s a party after, and we always make too much food. My brothers, they do not believe me when I talk about you. They’ve never been fortunate enough to have a boss they liked.”

Daniel could imagine what it would be like, a big boisterous family celebration. It would be a good way to prepare Peggy for a trip home to Massachusetts. “I’d like that,” he said. 

Min caught Daniel on his way out of the men's room a little later.

"Chief, I wanted to ask if you needed help transporting Engle back to L.A. tomorrow?"

"I was hoping you and O'Keefe would take his car back to the office. Peggy and I will manage."

"Things seem to be going a little better with her, right?" Min asked. 

Daniel just smiled.

* * *

After two rounds and their very early morning, everyone was ready to call it a night. They didn’t get dragged from their beds to run, either. Instead there was a more leisurely morning spent packing their things and eating breakfast together. Then they headed back to the classroom for their final exam. 

It featured essay questions about lessons from the week. It also asked what people would be interested about in learning on a potential return visit. The open-ended questions apparently provoked quite a lot of response in everyone, even O’Keefe. Their answers would be interesting to read--later.

First he and Peggy claimed Engle from the brig. It was a very quiet ride back to the SSR office, where they left him in their lock-up. Daniel figured he’d let Samberly and Mags tag team Engel's verbal interrogation. It would be good practice to fact check his accounts and search his house. Between the two of them, Daniel knew they’d manage fine. 

Peggy asked to be dropped off at Howard's, eager to start packing. She was at his door the next morning, immediately after breakfast. Daniel felt a little bad for Jarvis, clearly rushed into shuttling her and her belongings over as soon as possible. 

She still hadn’t had all her things shipped from New York yet, but it took longer than expected for her to unpack. There were too many _distractions_ that kept cropping up. They got it all done between laughing and eating and kissing--and more than kissing. 

As they lingered over dinner, Peggy made a list of things she still wanted and needed. 

“When all my clothes arrive, I think we’ll need another wardrobe,” she said. “Maybe we can put one on each side of the window in the bedroom.” 

“If you like,” Daniel said. “You should buy a vanity table as well; it can go where the wardrobe is now.” 

“There are roses all on the north and west side of the house,” she continued. “I know it’s hot on the south side, but what do you think about putting in some cucumbers and tomato plants?”

He pictured Peggy dirty from working in a garden. “I’ll water them, if you weed and pick the bugs off,” he said.

“Then I can at least make sandwiches, so you don’t have to do all the cooking,” she said. Daniel pictured her taking a big bite of a tiny sandwich, cream cheese squirting out between crisp cucumber. “Then there’s just the ring," she said with finality.

“Uh--what?” he asked.

Peggy smiled, putting down her list. “Will you marry me, Daniel Sousa?” He stared at her, half convinced he had slid from blissful reverie to full on sleep. “Did you want to ask?” she said, her eyes searching his face when he didn’t say anything.

“No. This saves me from screwing it up, because I know what to say. Anytime, any place. Just tell me when.” 

“Ugh. I didn’t think about having to plan it." Peggy pouted. "I’ll ask Mr. Jarvis to help, it’ll distract him and keep him busy now that I’m out of Howard’s place." 

The phone rang before he could answer. Peggy waved a hand to tell him to stay in his seat. She answered it, “Carter-Sousa residence, how may I help you?”

Carter-Sousa residence. 

This time, his daydreams were interrupted by the change in Peggy’s tone. 

“Okay, I have a pen, Mr. Jarvis.” She wrote something down and then rung off.

“What is it?” he asked

“Santa Fe,” she said. “Mr. Jarvis said he received an urgent call from one Miss Katie Zook. I don't know who that is.” She was already dialing the long distance operator.

He had to laugh. Of course Jack would manage to interrupt this. They were going to have to plan a month’s vacation if they wanted a week long honeymoon to themselves. 

But they’d have it. And then, who knew what further adventures awaited? Daniel got up and headed to the bedroom--their bedroom--to pack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to know what Jack Thompson's been up to this whole time? Read [Jack Thompson is Dead*](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7947133)
> 
> Many thanks to eterna-betas lillianfromaccounting and Peonia and all my lovely commenters!


End file.
